Sacralising the Sacred
Nicholas Petridis
The work takes aim at a forest of P. tamarugo located in the Salar de Atacama. This formation is a thorny forest, composed mainly of P. tamarugo and Caesalpinia aphylla. Groundwater extraction for lithium mining has occurred from the 1970s onwards, and is expanding exponentially, thereafter, generating a significant groundwater depletion. The work proposes that the Cleaning of Canal Ceremonial practice can be incorporated into the regeneration of the Tambillo Forest of Tamarugo as the addition of labour and sacred ritualising is strongly embedded in the maintenance of an existing cultural landscape that defines Atacameño identity.
An Artistic Impression of the Vision for the Expansion of the Forest of Tamarugos