The Flow of Water: Reflections on the Representation of Rivers in Chile

This text reflects on the representation of nature in Chile through the image of the river in the photographic archive of Sernatur (National Tourism Service), as well as the series Esporas (Spores, 2021), focusing in particular on the photograph Piedras (Stones, 2021) by contemporary artist Seba Calfuqueo. To this end, a materialist approach to images was adopted, turning toward photography as an expanded field. The text concludes that the Sernatur archive makes visible the political agenda of the dictatorship, installing an image of visual prospecting that seeks to see the river as an economic asset at the service of capital, while Calfuqueo’s work installs a counter-gaze on nature and on the human/nonhuman relationship.