Cristian Ordóñez

VALLE, 2022-ongoing

Valle was created as part of a research project in collaboration with Associate Professor, Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, from Athabasca University (Canada). These photographs are part of a larger body of work that focuses on communities and their territories throughout the Huasco Valley, located in the southern Atacama Desert, Chile. Huasco is the last active valley before the world's driest desert begins, and a place which has been dealing with a variety of environmental, economic and health concerns for more than 30 years. The pictures reflect on concerns that have affected and continue to affect (for better or worse, depending on how you look at it) the life of the communities, the access to basic and universal services, the relationship with what development and the environment mean and represent in the use of this territory.

Route taken through the Huasco Valley accompanying the research team in a process of interviews and surveys throughout specific locations in the valley. These photographs are a record with a subjective perspective that was inspired by the studied data, the conversations with the locals, the beauty of the landscape, and human intervention in the territory as it has evolved over time.

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Read Essay by Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, PhD
Associate Professor, Athabasca University

Works by © Cristóbal Palma, Cristian Ordóñez and Marcos Zegers

Works by © Cristóbal Palma, Cristian Ordóñez and Javier Aravena

Works by © Javier Aravena, Cristóbal Palma and Cristian Ordóñez

Paisaje común (group show), 2024
Galería Animal, Santiago de Chile.
May 30 to July 13, 2024

Work part of ‘Valle’ on display at ‘Paisaje Común’, a group exhibition and dialogue with my dear colleagues Javier Aravena, Sebastián Mejía, Cristóbal Palma and Marcos Zegers.

Download Dossier of exhibition (available in Spanish).
Installation photograph © Sebastián Mejía and Cristóbal Palma

VALLE (solo public installation), 2023
Photographys by Cristian Ordóñez
Curated by Claude Goulet
Text by Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce

Installation views, 18 photographs. Belvédère des Deux-Rivières, Matapédia (view of the confluence of the Matapédia and Ristigouche rivers), Gaspésie, Québec.
Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie (14th edition, 2023)
July 15 to September 30, 2023

A Sense of Place (group show), 2023
Curated by Bénédicte Blondeau and Rüdiger Lange
PEP - Photographic Exploration Project
April 1 - 29, 2023
Berlin, Germany

Valle, Cristian Ordóñez. Photography at Huasco Valley, Atacama, Chile, 2022

Cerro Centinela (diptych)
Huasco, Atacama, 2022

AWARDS
2023 — Urbanautica Institute Awards 2022. Nature, Environment and Perspectives. Winner (IT)

EXHIBITIONS, TALKS
2024 — Mulhouse Photo Biennial (books and publishers event / PEP). Museum of Fine Arts of Mulhouse (FR)
2024 — Paisaje Común (group show). Galería Animal (CL)
2023 — Valle (solo show). Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie (CA)
2023 — Valle (artist talk). Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie (CA)
2023 — A Sense of Place (group show). PEP - Photographic Exploration Project. Berlin (GE)

PUBLICATIONS
2024 — Urbanautica Institute Awards 2022. Book (IT)
2023 — Multinacionales y Comunidades. Self-Published (CA)

PRESS
2024 — Maisonneuve Magazine, Issue 91. Feature Article (CA)
2024 — The Urbanaut Podcast (IT)

DOWNLOAD
2024 — Paisaje Común Exhibition, Dossier ESP (CL)

Info

VALLE, 2022-ongoing

—
Read Essay by Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, PhD
Associate Professor, Athabasca University

Valle (solo show). Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie (CA)

Cerro Centinela (diptych)
Huasco, Atacama, 2022

[ENG]
Once Chile recovered its democracy in 1990, a remarkable process of western-style development (Moore, 1966) started based on an economic model that delivered macroeconomic progress (The World Bank, 2021), but which has left behind many communities across the country (Benedikter & Zlosilo, 2017; Fábrega, 2019; Siavelis, 2010). Just like many other of the so-called high-income countries, there are still communities in Chile living in poor conditions, despite the incorporation of Chile to the OECD in 2010 and the international recognition of the Chilean model of development (Richards, 1997).
The Huasco Valley is one of those places still left behind. Located in the south of the Atacama Desert and known as the last valley before entering the driest desert on earth, the Huasco river gives life to the valley, its people and their ways of living. The Valley is formed by four main communities (namely Huasco, Freirina, Vallenar, and Alto del Carmen) reaching a population of about 72,000 people distributed along 150 km from the Pacific Ocean up to more than 4,000 m.a.s.l. in The Andes. The main economic activities of the region, other than services, are by far mining (41% of the regional GDP) with one of the highest GDP per capita among regions in Chile (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, n.d.) but still with many unsolved socio-environmental issues (Environmental Justice Atlas, n.d.; Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos, n.d.), reflecting the inequality Chile still suffers . Although the Valley has been subject to the development of industrial and mining projects for years (Bolados-García et al., 2021), emblematic developments have been cancelled due to public pressure and the companies’ poor socio-environmental practices, despite being approved by authorities. These include mining, agroindustry and energy projects. Some of the identified impacts of these projects include high levels of heavy metals in children and local produce, intolerable odours from pig carcasses, pollution of the local sea by mining tailings and long-lasting sediments in the Huasco river (Insunza, 2015; Myllyvirta et al., 2020; Vargas Aceituno, 2014). As seen, academic literature, as well as NGO research, show vast evidence of the social and environmental impact of these projects in the communities of the Valley.
Under this troubling scenario of development, investment, justice and distrust, conflicts appear due to the unfair distribution of social and environmental ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ that threaten the health, livelihood and social identities of these communities (Scheidel et al., 2020). Industrial territorial interventions, while creating employment, paying taxes and benefitting the local economy, also bring negative externalities that affect people’s ways of living, they hardly distribute economic benefits equally, and governments usually behave unilaterally (Amengual, 2018).
This work focuses on those communities and their territories with the aim of understanding the rationale of development and the potential role that multinationals play in it. After visiting the Valley, talking to its citizens and photographing its diverse landscape from the ocean to the mountain, we found a sensation of uncertainty and abandonment, and our work reflects the visible and invisible, the ephemeral and permanent, the transformations, adaptations, relationships and the intertwined conflicts existing across the valley.

Text by Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, PhD.
Associate Professor, Athabasca University

[ESP]
Una vez que Chile recuperó su democracia en 1990, este comenzó un notable proceso de desarrollo de estilo occidental (Moore, 1966) basado en un modelo económico que generó progreso macroeconómico (The World Bank, 2021), pero que ha dejado atrás a muchas comunidades en todo el país (Benedikter & Zlosilo, 2017; Fábrega, 2019; Siavelis, 2010). Al igual que muchos otros de los llamados países de altos ingresos, en Chile aún existen comunidades que viven en condiciones precarias, a pesar de la incorporación de Chile a la OCDE en 2010 y el reconocimiento internacional del modelo chileno de desarrollo (Richards, 1997) .
El Valle de Huasco es uno de esos lugares que aún quedan atrás. Ubicado al sur del Desierto de Atacama y conocido como el último valle antes de ingresar al desierto más árido de la tierra, el río Huasco da vida al valle, a su gente y a sus formas de vivir. El Valle está formado por cuatro comunidades principales (Huasco, Freirina, Vallenar y Alto del Carmen) alcanzando una población de alrededor de 72.000 personas distribuidas a lo largo de 150 km desde el Océano Pacífico hasta más de 4.000 m.s.n.m. en la Cordillera de Los Andes. Las principales actividades económicas de la región, además de los servicios, son por lejos la minería (41% del PIB regional) con uno de los PIB per cápita más altos entre las regiones de Chile (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, n.d.), pero aún con muchos problemas socioambientales sin resolver (Environmental Justice Atlas, d.f.; Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos, n.d.), que reflejan la desigualdad que aún sufre Chile. Si bien el Valle ha sido objeto del desarrollo de proyectos industriales y mineros durante años (Bolados-García et al., 2021), proyectos emblemáticos han sido cancelados por la presión pública y las malas prácticas socioambientales de las empresas, a pesar de haber sido aprobados por autoridades. Estos incluyen proyectos de minería, agroindustria y energía. Algunos de los impactos identificados de estos proyectos incluyen altos niveles de metales pesados impactando niños y productos locales, olores intolerables de los cadáveres de cerdos, contaminación del mar local por relaves mineros y sedimentos de larga duración en el río Huasco (Insunza, 2015; Myllyvirta et al. al., 2020; Vargas Aceituno, 2014). Como se ve, la literatura académica, así como las investigaciones de las ONG, muestran vasta evidencia del impacto social y ambiental de estos proyectos en las comunidades del Valle.
Bajo este preocupante escenario de desarrollo, inversión, justicia y desconfianza, aparecen conflictos por la injusta distribución de 'bienes' y 'males' sociales y ambientales que amenazan la salud, el sustento y la identidad social de estas comunidades (Scheidel et al., 2020). Las intervenciones territoriales industriales, si bien crean empleo, pagan impuestos y benefician la economía local, también traen externalidades negativas que afectan las formas de vida de las personas, difícilmente distribuyen los beneficios económicos de manera equitativa y los gobiernos suelen actuar de manera unilateral (Amengual, 2018).
Este trabajo se centra en esas comunidades y sus territorios con el objetivo de comprender la lógica del desarrollo y el papel potencial que las multinacionales juegan en él. Luego de visitar el Valle, conversar con sus habitantes y fotografiar su diverso paisaje desde el mar hasta la montaña, nos encontramos con una sensación de incertidumbre y abandono, y nuestra obra refleja lo visible e invisible, lo efímero y permanente, las transformaciones, adaptaciones, relaciones y los conflictos entrelazados que existen en todo el valle.

Texto de Eduardo Ordóñez-Ponce, PhD.
Profesor asociado, Universidad de Athabasca