Pierre Huyghe Camata I, 2024

The photograph presents the site where the film was conceived. At the work’s center is a found skeleton located in that Chilean desert. The skeleton has exerted an ongoing fascination on the artist. It first appeared in a photographic work, Cerro Indio Muerto, 2016. The remains, which most likely were left undisturbed, except by the elements, have lain there since the early twentieth century. Parts of cloth, skin and hair are visible, much desiccated. From the clothes and chemical analysis of the remains, it was deduced to be those of a miner, to which the title also alludes: Chuquicamata, also located in the north of Chile, is the largest open pit copper mine in terms of excavated volume in the world.