Qhapaq Ñan - Atacama

Qhapaq Ñan is the name in Quechua of the Andean Road System, a huge network of roads that the Incas extended for more than 30,000 kilometers, crossing the Andes mountain range to link administrative and ceremonial centers. The route has been used by messengers, armies, shepherds with llamas, caravans with goods. Today the Qhapaq Ñan crosses new frontiers, in a territory where the present dialogues with the ancestral Andean worldview.

For two years, photographer Claudio Pérez carried out a visual exploration of the path that crosses the Atacama Desert. The result is Qhapaq Ñan - Atacama, an exhibition that portrays territory, architecture, rituals, people, routes of the present and the past. The exhibition includes more than 50 images, maps, and objects such as travel diaries, stones and souvenirs. In addition, an audiovisual record made by Pérez himself is projected.

The exhibition curated by Camila Opazo is Claudio Pérez's second solo exhibition at GAM. The first was the retrospective Ritos y memoria, visual anthology (2014).

Technical team
Guide, field geographer: Raúl Molina Otárola
Exhibition design: Elisa Pérez Mena
Audiovisual assembly: Pedro Lorca
Apacheta construction: Mario Mamani Ramos
Field drawings and maps: Raúl Molina Otárola
Fine art editing and printing: Beberly Estay / Ekho Lab