« Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes

“I entered the country by its most painful door” declared the Swiss photographer Jean-Claude Wicky at the end of a long and patient work of documentary photography about the Bolivian mines of Potosi, realized between 1984 and 2001 in a hostile and fierce universe, inseparable from the history of Bol...

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Main Author: Baptiste Lavat
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut des Amériques 2019-03-01
Series:IdeAs
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/4902
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author Baptiste Lavat
author_facet Baptiste Lavat
author_sort Baptiste Lavat
collection DOAJ
description “I entered the country by its most painful door” declared the Swiss photographer Jean-Claude Wicky at the end of a long and patient work of documentary photography about the Bolivian mines of Potosi, realized between 1984 and 2001 in a hostile and fierce universe, inseparable from the history of Bolivia. This article proposes to present the book Mineros. Bolivia (2007), result of this work hailed by critics for its artistic and documentary quality. More than a reflection on the anthropological and historical dimension of the work, the point of this article is to study some of the characteristics of the pictures, which introduce the public into a confined, raw and bitter world, without ever distorting or caricaturing the complex reality of which it testifies. We will also take an interest in the process by which Wicky decided, after exposing his work in many cities in the world, to give each of the miners immortalized by his photographs a copy of the book. Their gratefulness and emotional reactions decided him to dedicate a video documentary to this return to the mines, twenty-six years after the beginning of the project. He directed the documentary film Todos los días la noche (2010), in which scenes of encounter with mineworkers alternate with explanations of the mining history of the region, while introducing a subtle reflection on the relationship between the artist and the people who inspired him and fed his work for decades.
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spelling doaj-art-7ea412d428d74355a2e4112bd37eea6c2025-08-20T01:52:30ZengInstitut des AmériquesIdeAs1950-57012019-03-011310.4000/ideas.4902« Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennesBaptiste Lavat“I entered the country by its most painful door” declared the Swiss photographer Jean-Claude Wicky at the end of a long and patient work of documentary photography about the Bolivian mines of Potosi, realized between 1984 and 2001 in a hostile and fierce universe, inseparable from the history of Bolivia. This article proposes to present the book Mineros. Bolivia (2007), result of this work hailed by critics for its artistic and documentary quality. More than a reflection on the anthropological and historical dimension of the work, the point of this article is to study some of the characteristics of the pictures, which introduce the public into a confined, raw and bitter world, without ever distorting or caricaturing the complex reality of which it testifies. We will also take an interest in the process by which Wicky decided, after exposing his work in many cities in the world, to give each of the miners immortalized by his photographs a copy of the book. Their gratefulness and emotional reactions decided him to dedicate a video documentary to this return to the mines, twenty-six years after the beginning of the project. He directed the documentary film Todos los días la noche (2010), in which scenes of encounter with mineworkers alternate with explanations of the mining history of the region, while introducing a subtle reflection on the relationship between the artist and the people who inspired him and fed his work for decades.https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/4902BoliviaPotosiminesJean-Claude Wickydocumentary photography
spellingShingle Baptiste Lavat
« Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
IdeAs
Bolivia
Potosi
mines
Jean-Claude Wicky
documentary photography
title « Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
title_full « Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
title_fullStr « Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
title_full_unstemmed « Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
title_short « Había en su mirada más palabras que en cualquier voz » : Mineros, documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
title_sort habia en su mirada mas palabras que en cualquier voz mineros documentaire photographique et anthropologique des mines boliviennes
topic Bolivia
Potosi
mines
Jean-Claude Wicky
documentary photography
url https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/4902
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