The Unseen Desert Project


The Unseen Desert is a six month, place based project documenting ancient sites in Peru’s coastal deserts that exist beyond tourism and public awareness.

These are places that are neither lost nor hidden, yet remain largely unseen. They sit in open landscapes, near roads, towns, and cultivated land, but fall outside official narratives, visitor routes, and collective attention.

The project focuses on sites such as Chan Chan, Caral, Bandurria, Chicama, and other lesser known desert locations, approached not as monuments, but as places still embedded in everyday terrain.

Approach

The work is grounded in walking, photography, and sustained observation.

There is no excavation, reconstruction, or speculative interpretation. The project does not aim to explain the past or resolve historical questions. Instead, it records how these places persist in the present: how they are encountered, overlooked, weathered, bordered, and lived alongside.

Time is spent moving slowly through each site, paying attention to scale, material, light, silence, and proximity to modern life.

Why the Desert

Peru’s deserts are often described as empty. In reality, they hold dense layers of human presence that remain difficult to see unless one stops and looks carefully.

By working in open, exposed landscapes, the project explores how ancient places survive without enclosure, signage, or spectacle, and what it means for a site to exist without being actively remembered.

Scope and Duration

The Unseen Desert is a focused, six month project, limited in geography and scale. Each site is visited once, with the intention of avoiding repetition and allowing attention to remain fresh and responsive.

The project is designed as a single, sustained period of work rather than an ongoing series.

Outcomes

The project will result in a curated body of photographs and written reflections, published through Stone Bothering. Selected material may later be developed into essays, talks, or printed works.

The emphasis is on creating a considered record rather than a comprehensive archive.

Support and Collaboration

The Unseen Desert is an independent project. If you are interested in supporting, funding, or collaborating on this work, please contact us.

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