Exploring Conflict and Identity: Manuel Castillo's moving Photography

Text by Oman Morí

Photos by Manuel Castillo

Chilean photographer Manuel Castillo delves into landscapes scarred by conflict, using his lens to dig up not just external turmoil, but his personal intentions and motivations. From unconscious wanderings, his photography and videos resonate with enigmatic scenarios and abstract human encounters, evoking dreams and unexplored mental landscapes.

Beyond his hometown, Valparaiso, Castillo's lens has extended to countries like Iran, revealing societal tensions through his evocative visual language. He describes his creative process as instinctive, devoid of preconceived ideas, capturing organic interactions between personal experiences, memories, and the present environment. The streets, seas, and conflict-ridden nations become his tools to dismantle and reconstruct narratives.

Recently, Castillo turned his focus to Argentina's Jujuy province, a battleground against lithium exploitation. Amidst massive protests and governmental repression, he embarked on a different kind of journey—one not focused on visible tensions but on the quiet resilience of the land. His motorcycle became his guide as he documented the province's struggles against environmental devastation caused by lithium mining.

In Castillo's words:

Between roosters and midnight,

I have nothing.

History of going to the city, of settling in the square, of cutting off the roads.

Gerardo Morales has established himself hegemonically as the owner of the province. Between four people they modified the constitution in less than ten days without the consent to convene, not even to ask.

His intention was to open the doors to the massive extraction of lithium.

(June 5, Iturbe Hipólito Yrigoyen, Jujuy, Argentina 2023)

Camouflaged items, reformed.

Criminalize public protest.

Not knowing that public lands belong to the communities.

Aggression methodologies and constant violence.

State Department.”

Manuel Castillo's lens doesn't just capture physical landscapes; it exposes the nuances of power, exploitation, and resistance. Through his work, he documents a journey of both external turmoil and internal introspection, reminding us that photography can be a potent tool to demonstrate the world's conflicts and transformations. To follow his ongoing journey, visit his Instagram profile.