The Lives of Copper: A Collaborative Visual Project in Chile/Ghana

“The lives of Copper” critically examines the global trajectories of this mineral, elucidating its multifaceted roles across diverse value chains and contextual significances. Copper, a pivotal mineral in modern industries and key for the decabornization process, traverses intricate pathways, interconnecting various economic, social, and cultural dimensions on a global scale.

This research starts in Antofagasta, Chile, scrutinizing the extraction, production and distribution of copper, and unraveling its journey from mining sites to manufacturing hubs and seaports. In addition to conducting interviews and participant observation, I produced a series of photos of the city that emulate touristic postcards featuring the extractivist's backyard. After that, and tracing the copper pathways to delineate its intricate web of global relationships, I moved to Accra, Ghana, home to one of the largest e-waste dumps in the world, Agbogbloshie. Thousands of individuals work there, dismantling cables and electronic appliances to extract and sell copper by weight. I took the photos from Antofagasta there, and invited the recyclers to intervene them, creating visual letters to the Chilean miners. The images were drawn and written upon, in ways that not only emphasized its economic value, but also its symbolic, ritualistic, and historical significance, embodying notions of wealth, health, and craftsmanship.

Finally, on a third iteration, I am moving back to Antofagasta with two packs of images: the ones intervened in Accra plus photos taken in the city, to create with the community a collaborative video that would explore —from the peripheries of the periphery— the intricate web of relationships and exchanges integral to the copper trade. Giving that is an ongoing research project, it would be an amazing opportunity to discuss its methods with Luc and the rest of the panel.