The Time Machine and the Patagonian Traveler’s Letter

Authors

  • Lucas Lima da Silva Federal University of Santa Catarinaa

Abstract

The essay articulates photography and territory through the idea of the photographic camera as a time machine capable of accessing the past through sensory experience. Taking the analog camera as an affective bond, photography is presented as a reflective practice of memory exercise and time travel. The images produced during the journey to Patagonia function as temporal fissures that activate a synesthetic experience. In dialogue with Julio Cortázar’s Carta del viajero, the text focuses on Argentine Patagonia as a magical territory that resists totalizing description through words. At the same time, it problematizes the region’s insertion into the dynamics of extractivist capitalism, land privatization, and conflicts with Indigenous peoples, particularly the Mapuche. Photography thus emerges as a tool for memory and care of Latin American territories.

Author Biography

  • Lucas Lima da Silva, Federal University of Santa Catarinaa

    Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

Published

2026-05-17

Issue

Section

Ensaios Fotográficos e imagens