Maloneras

In Maloneras: Seeds of Resistance, Natalia Favre, ART WORKS Projects’ 2024 Emerging Lens Fellow, captures the unwavering determination of indigenous communities in Jujuy, northern Argentina, as they confront the exploitation and destruction of their ancestral lands. Through an intimate lens, Favre tells the story of Aurora, an indigenous woman whose fight against lithium mining reflects the broader struggle to protect vital natural resources, cultural heritage, and ways of life.

Favre’s work reveals the stark reality of the Andean salt flats, home to 70% of the world’s
lithium reserves—prized for the lithium-ion batteries essential to a carbon-free future. While the global demand for this “white gold” accelerates, it has wrought devastating consequences for the region: depleted groundwater, polluted ecosystems, and fractured
communities. These environmental harms threaten not only the fragile landscape but also the cultural and economic foundations of indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with the land for generations.

Since 2023, the worsening human rights crisis under Argentina’s new government has compounded these challenges. Indigenous communities face increased repression, criminalized resistance, and threats to their legal rights to ancestral territories. Against this backdrop, Favre’s project amplifies the voices of those at the frontlines of the struggle, particularly women like Aurora, who embody the intersection of resilience,
identity, and land stewardship.

Through photography, personal narratives, and the enduring symbols of water and earth, Maloneras: Seeds of Resistance connects us to the intimate relationship between land and identity. Favre’s work invites audiences to reflect on how indigenous knowledge and cosmovision sustain cultural memory and environmental stewardship, even in the face of exploitation and violence.