Exploration and Exploitation

The exploration and colonization of the Americas by different cultures has been driven by the search and exploitation of its resources. Whether the conquerors sought land, water, raw materials, or labor, the histories, civilizations, and landscape of the Americas were decimated by the ways these resources were used over time. In Harun Farocki’s The Silver and the Cross, the artist denounces the negative impact of silver mining in Potosí, Bolivia, during Spanish rule. Similarly, Juan Manuel Echavarría’s La Bandeja de Bolívar (Bolivar’s Platter) presents a metaphor for the destructive effects of drug production and trafficking in his native Colombia.