El Precio de la Tierra (The Price of the Land)
For almost a decade, Alessandro Cinque has dedicated his life to documenting one of the most urgent and least visible struggles of our time: the impact of the mining industry on Indigenous communities in the Andes.
El Precio de la Tierra is the outcome of this long journey through Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, and Ecuador — a photographic project that intertwines territories, cultures, and destinies into a single visual narrative of resistance, loss, and dignity.
After moving to South America in 2017, Cinque left his comfort zone to immerse himself in a reality he felt compelled to document. His approach, grounded in a classical documentarylanguage, values simplicity and clarity as tools of visual democratization.
For Cinque, photography must remain a universal language — accessible and capable of fostering empathy and awareness — a medium that translates global issues such as the climate crisis or Indigenous rights into tangible human experiences.
Over the years, he has developed a working method that combines field immersion, collaboration with local journalists and activists, and a deep ethical reflection on the photographer’s role in representing others.
WithEl Precio de la Tierra, this practice reaches full maturity: the project does not merely denounce the effects of extractivism but restores
complexity, agency, and dignity to the communities living within it.
Cinque works on the border between document and poetry, building a narrative that moves across countries and cultures to reveal how the same extractive dynamics repeat throughout the Andean region. His gaze connects wounded landscapes — polluted rivers, hollowed-out mountains, saltdeserts — with the faces of those who resist, turning observation into testimony and photography into a tool of collective memory.
Under the guidance of Sarah Leen (former Director of Photography at National Geographic) and curator and editor Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo of
Raya Editorial, the project has evolved into a visual chronicle of contemporary neocolonialism, addressing key issues such as energy transition,
environmental degradation, and the resilience of Indigenous cultures.
Cinque’s experience in Latin America also profoundly reshaped his artistic vision. Raised in Florence — a city steeped in Eurocentric heritage — he gradually redefined his visual language through contact with Andean culture and the influence of masters such as Martín Chambi.
From this cross-cultural dialogue emerged a decolonized and relational photography, grounded inequality between subject and photographer and driven by a desire to make photography a tool of restitution and social justice.
Over time, El Precio de la Tierra has become much more than a personal project: it is a living archive, built in collaboration with the communities portrayed, based on trust and long-term commitment.
The fanzines produced with Quechua journalist Vidal Merma, distributed free of charge in Andean villages — and now part of the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York — stand as one of the most tangible expressions of this ethical vision.
Through more than 320,000 photographs taken over nearly ten years, Cinque has built a body of work that lies at the intersection of documentary photography, visual research, andanthropology.
His images, published in The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and Internazionale, have been exhibited in over
80 solo and group shows across 27 countries, including Italy, France, Spain, the United States, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Turkey.
Among the most notable venues are the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego), Fotografiska (Stockholm and Shanghai), Fundación PROA (Buenos Aires), and Arter (Istanbul).
Recipient of prestigious recognitions such as the World Press Photo, Sony World Photography Award, Prix Photo Terre Solidaire, Vital Impacts Grant, and the National Geographic Explorer Grant, Cinque continues to explore the relationship between land, identity, and power.
With El Precio de la Tierra, Alessandro Cinque delivers the most profound synthesis of his artistic and human journey — a work that merges photography, anthropology, and civic engagement, transforming the image into a space of resistance, memory, and collective awareness
