Marea Roja (2025)

The installation "Marea Roja" during the SACO 2025 Biennial on Dark Ecosystems consists of a series of six archival photographs by Juanita Guajardo, a 1.5-minute video performance, and two live microalgae cultures in the installation space. The microalgae nannochloropsis is part of the printing process of Juanita's image. This same microalgae, when it proliferates due to changes in climatic conditions, forms part of the so-called "red tide."

Two deeply symbolic elements stand out in the work: the figure of Juanita Guajardo, a woman murdered in the 1980s and venerated as a popular saint in northern Antofagasta, and microalgae, organisms that make up phytoplankton and are the main cause of red tide in the area.

Both the photographs and the microalgae cultures exhibited will progressively lose their pigments due to exposure to light, the passage of time, and lack of nutrients. This controlled degradation is part of the work, inviting reflection on the fragility of ecosystems and our memory.