NITRATE

This is the first solo exhibition by Xavier Ribas (Barcelona, 1960) to bring together a substantial body of work made by the photographer over the last decade. The exhibition takes its title from his latest investigative project into nitrate extraction. The system of colonial exploitation led by British companies in the Chilean Atacama Desert is a case study whose geographical and historical scope is held to question by Ribas’s photographic practice. This ambitious study, produced between 2009 and 2014, is presented here for the first time along with a selection of his earlier works. The first part of the exhibition – which prefaces the section dedicated specifically to Nitrate – includes four photographs from the Sanctuary series, 2002, and eight series from the most extensive group of works in the artist’s career, Concrete Geographies, 2002–9. Exhibition curated by Carles Guerra.