False Geographies

The project False Geographies explores the characteristic of the incorruptible golden metal and its relationships with the notions of occidental power and control. Across the centuries the search for gold seemed to be a valid reason for Western men to leave their countries and navigate towards unknown and unfamiliar territories seeking golden treasures. Besides, the dream of a city made of gold, located somewhere in the South of the New World, propelled generations of explorers who through sacking and prevarications left behind a deprived and oppressed land. Occident has erected an idea of power and supremacy around the physical properties of this solid metal and its possession, however, the native idea of gold and its alloys shows a diverse perception and symbolism of this materiality. Through staged photographs, archival images and re-enacted narratives, the series interlaces the domestic and the exotic imagery and explores beliefs and false myths that drove Western society to overcome its geographical limitation in the name of a supposed enrichment.