National Waterfront Museum, Swansea
Until Sun 5 Nov
Currently running at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum until November, the exhibition Chile and Swansea – A Journey through Copper sets out to explore the links between both Chile and Swansea through the circulation of copper ore in the 19th century. Featuring artist Ignacio Acosta’s photographic research on copper geographies, the exhibition presents a rare opportunity to explore the unique link between the two geographical areas.
The exhibition features site-specific installations of photographs and texts from a series entitled ‘Copper Geographies.’ From the late 1820s, copper ore was extracted from an area of northern Chile and subsequently smelted in Swansea. The process left the valley largely contaminated for more than two centuries until conservation work in the 1960s and 70s sought to recover the polluted land. Acosta’s work hopes to uncover and highlight the consequential geopolitical tensions that remain hidden in the photographs. Bringing the photos, and therefore the landscapes together encourages direct contrast and comparison. Acosta states that he hopes to ‘reclaim historical connections’ by inviting ‘the viewer to imagine what is no longer there’. A thoughtful, and at times profound exhibition, the National Waterfront Museum is the ideal venue to situate the work, further encouraging audience participation and engagement through geographical links and ties. A rare opportunity to view an important and timely work.
Admission: free. Info: 030 0111 2333 / museum.wales/Swansea (SD)