El oro que heredamos, el oro que soñamos
(The gold we inherited, the gold of our dreams)
2018 Photographic Residencies
From Pre-Columbian civilisations to the Spanish Conquista and today’s expansion of the ore-extraction industry, gold in Peru has made the country a source of fascination for several millennia.
Equally swept up in this fascination, Marco Garro has taken photographs of gold mines in the Andes and Amazonia for several years. Indeed, Peru is now the world’s leading producer of gold in Latin America and demand for it is constantly rising to meet the ever growing requirements of banks, tech firms, traders and jewellers. This excessive mining has caused human and environmental disasters to which the photographer has devoted a considerable portion of his work.
For Photographic Residencies, he has chosen to take a more specific interest in the power of fascination this metal has wielded over humankind from Pre-Columbian societies to modern-day Peru. By using a chronological approach and juxtaposing images of gold extraction with those of contemporary use of gold in Peruvian society, the photographer seeks to explore the persistence of this fascination.
To achieve this, Marco Garro chose to photograph new, remote mining regions in Peru, museums and collections where Pre-Columbian treasure is conserved, as well as the private and public spheres with their different methods of exploiting and displaying gold. Historically, gold has evoked prestige and symbolised perfection. It once helped Peru’s ancient civilisations grow, and also played a big role in their downfall. So what does contemporary Peruvian gold represent in today’s ever globalised world?
Series produced between 2018-2019.
