Week of events
Traces of Nitrate
Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies
History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, Birkbeck, University of London
March 2013
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As part of Traces of Nitrate team, Louise Purbrick, Xavier Ribas and I took part in a week of events at the School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, including a seminar, a workshop, an exhibition of work in progress, and a gallery talk, 11th -15th March 2013.
Seminar
Monday 11th March 2013
This one day symposium, organised by the Traces of Nitrate team, brought together artists, photographers, geographers and historians. The academics engaged in investigations of the material and visual culture of mining, with a particular focus on global inequalities and how it affects to peoples and the environment
Chilean nitrate, once highly prized mineral, was at the centre of the relationship between Britain and Chile from the middle of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth. This paper, an outcome of a collaboration between an art historian and photographers, intends to open a debate about the neglect and importance of the history of nitrate. The ‘trace’ of the paper’s title refers to our process of delineating the circuit of nitrate wealth from mines in Atacama desert to City of London merchant houses and global corporations. ‘Trace’ also refers to nitrate’s physical remains: the trace as material form, fragile and fragmented. We examine traces in archives of a British academic, in surfaces of abandoned nitrate mines and in the structures of copper mining.
My 20 minute paper discussed the work developed for this PhD with an specific focus on the relationship between the series Antofagasta Plc., Stop Abuses! and LME Invisible Corporate Network.
Exhibition
Traces of Nitrate: Some documents
11th – 15th March 2013
An exhibition of film and photographic work that examines the past and present economic relationships constituted through mining in Chile.
Gallery talk and workshop
Friday 15th March 2013
This postgraduate workshop discussed the role of photography in the process of research, documentation and story telling of contested sites and histories.