«Photographic aesthetics of the Chinchiná River»

John Mauricio Chica (Colombia) – Table B – Hybridizations

The objective of the Estéticas fotográficas del río Chinchiná project focuses on addressing water pollution through a methodology of artistic creation based on contemporary artistic practices, such as: the digital image and its deconstruction based on ancient photographic techniques.

For this purpose, it was necessary to carry out ethnographic and phenomenological field research at different strategic points along the river: from the upper part of the Gallinazo sector to the municipality of Chinchiná. The tours made it possible to recognize several areas with a high degree of contamination, which is manifested through the accumulation of garbage, sewage dumps, industrial waste and bad odor.

In addition, a search was conducted for national and international artists who have addressed the environmental crisis from different perspectives, such as, for example, the impact that garbage generates in the tributaries. The purpose of this exercise is to recognize the relationship between art and nature through different artistic manifestations in order to generate an echo in society regarding environmental issues.

From the analog laboratory and the digital image, a dialectic is developed that allows a game between the digital image and the physical support, a game created from a process of manual photochemical sensitization composed of two moments of creation.

The first consists of experimenting with watercolor paper and using various old photographic techniques such as salted paper, Van Dike, Bichromate Gum, Cianotipia and Albuminotopia, with the purpose of recognizing their chromatic qualities and exposure times to natural light or artificial light.

And thus, give way to the second moment of creation that consists of sensitizing different types of waste by means of a photochemical process. In addition, it is appropriate to clarify that the result of the execution of each technique is uncertain, due to the fact that we are experimenting on waste with an unknown degree of contamination.