Recursos naturales

Photographic exhibition of Juan Rodríguez's project on the extraction of raw materials and their relationship with construction, held at La Casa de la Arquitectura, in the Arquería de Nuevos Ministerios.

The show brings together photography series in colour and in black and white that follow the journey of materials from their origin to the workshop. The colour images focus on stone quarries and forestry operations, where geometric cuts, terraces and straight planes reveal how human activity transforms the land. Rain, snow or mud alter the surface of freshly extracted slate and granite, and these variations are captured within the framing.

The monochrome series shifts the focus to the craft. Juan Rodríguez photographs the hands, gestures and tools of stonemasons, woodcutters and artisans who shape raw material before it is used in an architectural work. The collection thus offers two complementary views of the same production chain: the altered landscape and manual labour.

The project forms part of a broader research undertaking by the author, which will culminate in the presentation of a book in the same venue. With these images, the photographer raises the consequences of human intervention on the environments from which raw materials come, and the advisability of reviewing current extraction methods.