What we left behind

This project proposes that the manner human beings adapt to and interact with landscapes over the course of their existence creates a sort of biography of the landscape and the people occupying them. We all leave behind a record not just of our activities but also of our attitudes and values. Gabriela Escobar Ari’s intention with this project, produced in the Huayna Potosí region of La Paz, Bolivia, is to tell the story of a landscape, considering this landscape as a living element. Creating photographic works that chronicle how the main raw materials from this area were extracted, and by using geological and archaeological history as support for this biography, the artist demonstrates that landscapes are not just the environment we inhabit but are what determine our customs and lifestyle, and the setting in which our actions and attitudes are indelibly recorded.