Atacama: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile

Published October 2024

Steidl, 2023

175 Pages | $30

Atacama: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile by Jamey Stillings brings our eyes to the forefront of an ongoing wave of development in the driest place on Earth. This book was my first glimpse into this seemingly uninhabitable landscape that has become blemished with patterns and grids of human creation. 

Stillings' images show humankind forging ahead, away from a fossil fuel era, in an untapped landscape with promise to power the globe. It is not until we pull back and take an 1800-meter view that we can see the scale of such a revolution. Massive scars stencil the landscape as we tap into the largest lithium and copper deposits in the world. At a distance, it seems lifeless and impossibly man-made. How could these craters be decades in the making? What will Atacama look like decades from now? Stillings challenges our perspective on the lesser-seen side of a new energy era.

This collection of aerials reveals the very raw and captivating essence of our rapidly advancing technological era. In the introduction, best-selling author Mark Sloan wittily states that Stillings' work "documents humankind's attempt to save itself from itself." It is worth noting these are not just drone snapshots from above, but carefully coordinated windows in time from a plane or helicopter. 

Stillings' careful attention to detail is apparent throughout this book. The wraparound cover on metallic paper is striking and showcases his fine art training. His photographs exhibit a careful use of shadows, adding depth to an otherwise flat land. The tonal consistency ties the images together into a cohesive array with notes of bright blue from lithium evaporation ponds in contrast to bronze earth. 

One thing that surprised me about this book was the unconventional layout. The portrait orientation requires you to rotate horizontally in order to move through the photographs, then back to portrait to read the text that follows with small captions above the book spine on a blank white page. I originally had to pause and flip back, thinking I completely missed the introductory text and statement. Initially, I found it confusing to have the foreword and introduction come after the images, but when I asked Stillings about this, he revealed his intent to challenge our expectations on layout and allow the images to speak before the words that follow. He says "by starting with the images, only you, the viewer, are allowed the respect of encountering the photographs first on your own terms. No one is telling you what they are or what to think." The hidden cleverness in this approach is that it forces you to go back through the images once again with new, informed context to see if your paradigm has shifted after reading the text. 

Once you make it through the 60+ full-page images, you're offered text in English and Spanish, for further consideration on what you viewed. The one thing this doesn't leave you with is a closing image for reflection. I also think Stillings missed an opportunity to pull us further into his world by not including a picture of himself. I would have loved to see what making this body of work from the side of a small Cessna looked like. Additionally, I appreciate Stillings' inclusion of a map, pinning where these constructions exist in the high desert of Chile. Though, I personally would prefer to see this referenced at the beginning of the book to help establish our sense of place in the world. 

Stillings' work in Atacama leaves me with a few unanswered questions: What does this window into an advancing renewable energy world look like from the ground? Who are the people behind these large-scale operations working to meet global demands? While this documentation is undoubtedly human, what's missing for me is some emotional connection. I can imagine working in such an unfavorable environment comes with very human challenges. Instead, he holds our sights from above for this particular project. I would love to see a few closer detail shots or portraits from the ground to give us the full picture of what's going on in the desert. Perhaps this paves way for Atacama's sequel to come?

Reviewed by Justin Dalaba