Flammable Landscapes explores the ecological and political transformations of south-central Chile, particularly in the regions of Biobío and Ñuble. This contemporary landscape is not purely natural; it is the result of decades of economic and political intervention. 

Since the mid-twentieth century—and with greater intensity following policies implemented during the military dictatorship—vast territories were converted into industrial plantations of pine and eucalyptus. Native forests, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and a key element in climate regulation, was gradually replaced by monoculture plantations designed for export-oriented forestry. 

This process consolidated the forestry industry as one of the main economic drivers of the region, while profoundly transforming its ecosystems. Biodiversity declined, numerous species became threatened, and the territory’s hydrological cycles were altered. Fast-growing plantations consume large amounts of water, contributing to water scarcity affecting rural and Indigenous communities. 

Today, many local communities find themselves caught between the need for employment and the struggle to preserve the forest. 

These monoculture plantations have also created highly flammable landscapes: vast, continuous expanses of vegetation that facilitate the spread of large-scale wildfires. 

During the summer of 2026, I returned to my hometown and witnessed these fires firsthand. Smoke covered the landscape as flames advanced across territories shaped by decades of forestry expansion. This direct encounter revealed the fragility of these ecosystems and the quiet violence of an extractive model that has redefined the territory. 

Flammable Landscapes approaches these territories as living archives of extraction, ecological crisis, and conflict. In the context of the global climate crisis, the images in this project invite reflection on how the landscapes we inhabit also carry the traces of the political decisions that have shaped them.