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Jamey Stillings: ATACAMA: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile by Aline SmithsonJune 17, 2026

©Jamey Stillings, El Romero Solar, photovoltaic power plant, Atacama Region, Chile, 2017 This 246-megawatt solar farm (photovoltaic power plant), located north of La Serena, provides 100% of the electricity needed by the Google Data Center in Santiago.

Documentary photographer Jamey Stillings has recently opened the remarkable exhibition ATACAMA: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where it will remain on view through August 26, 2026. In a reflective accompanying essay, Stillings recounts the journey behind bringing the exhibition to life, offering insights into the relationships, fundraising efforts, and complex logistical challenges that shaped its realization.

As part of that reflection, he starts with the exhibition’s introductory statement:

ATACAMA, a seminal project by documentary photographer Jamey Stillings, examines the evolving nexus between renewable energy and mining in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Stillings shares his distinctive aerial perspective to examine dramatic large-scale renewable energy projects, dynamic views of enormous mining operations, and the stark natural beauty of the Atacama Desert, so often scarred by human activity.

Why are Chile and the Atacama Desert significant?

Because the copper and lithium we use daily in our cars, computers, and smartphones likely come from Chile. As the global leader in copper production, Chile supplies more than one-quarter of the world’s copper and is the second largest lithium producer. These facts make our connection to Chile and its environmental practices more relevant and tangible.

The ATACAMA project features aerial photography exploring renewable energy, mining, and our global reliance on copper and lithium. New solar and wind projects supply electricity to the grid, power mines, and significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Chile has tripled its renewable energy capacity since 2017, and most major mines have transitioned to 100% renewable energy for electricity, setting a promising example for other countries.

Stillings’ aesthetic interest in the human-altered landscape and his environmental sustainability concerns are the principal pillars of his work. His imagery elicits a critical dialogue about meeting society’s needs and desires while seeking an equilibrium between nature and human activity. ATACAMA demonstrates how photography can concurrently be a source of inspiration, motivation, and information. It reminds us that a carbon-constrained future is crucial to a responsible and sustainable approach to life on Earth.

Jamey Stillings at work

©Jamey Stillings, Proyecto Solar San Andrés, photovoltaic power plant, Atacama Region, Chile, 2017 This 50-megawatt photovoltaic plant uses a single-axis tracking system aligned north-south, allowing the rows of panels to slowly tilt from east to west and follow the sun.

Jamey Stillings’ multi-decade career spans documentary, fine art, and commissioned work. Since 2010, he has focused on renewable energy through an extended aerial photography project, Changing Perspectives: Renewable Energy & the Shifting Human Landscape. Stillings has photographed extensively over the United States, Japan, Uruguay, and Chile from helicopters and light airplanes. New US-based and international chapters of Changing Perspectives are under development.

Stillings has published three books:

Atacama: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile (Steidl, 2023)

The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar (Steidl, 2015)

The Bridge at Hoover Dam (Nazraeli Press, 2011)

Stillings presents globally at photo festivals, universities, TED events, and professional conferences. His work is exhibited and published widely in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Recent publications include The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Newsweek Japan, WIRED Italia, and Photoworld China. Stillings’ photographs are in private and public collections, including the United States Library of Congress, the Museum of Fine Arts – Houston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Nevada Museum of Art.

©Jamey Stillings, Landscape, Atacama Region, Chile, 2017

©Jamey Stillings, Mina Zaldívar, open-pit copper mine, Antofagasta Region, Chile, 2017 In 2020, Mina Zaldívar became one of the first copper mines to operate entirely on renewable energy, using power from wind, solar, and hydro sources on Chile’s national grid. This transition helps reduce the mine’s operational greenhouse gas emissions, even as large-scale copper ore extraction continues.

©Jamey Stillings, These turquoise lithium evaporation ponds are part of SQM’s operations in the northern Salar de Atacama, an ancient, dried lakebed. Lithium-rich brine is pumped from beneath the salt flat and concentrated in a network of ponds within a lithium-producing zone of roughly 900 square kilometers (about 350 square miles), in a basin that contains a significant share of the world’s known brine-based lithium reserves.

©Jamey Stillings, Pampa Elvira Solar, solar thermal power plant, at the Minera Gaby copper mine, Antofagasta Region, Chile, 2017 This 27.5-megawatt solar thermal array provides most of the hot water needed for the electrowinning process at Minera Gaby. Electrowinning is an electrochemical process used to plate pure copper from an aqueous solution.

©Jamey Stillings, Pacific Ocean coastline, Antofagasta Region, Chile, 2017

©Jamey Stillings, Cerro Dominador, solar thermal power plant under construction, Antofagasta Region, Chile, 2017 In 2017, this 110-megawatt solar thermal power plant was under construction, featuring a 252-meter-high receiver and a 17.5-hour molten salt storage capacity. It would become part of a hybrid facility that includes a 100-megawatt photovoltaic power plant.

ATACAMA – Creating an Exhibition from Scratch

When you pour heart and soul, along with several years, into a photo project, creating an exhibition of the work is a fitting culmination of your creative efforts. Such was my goal with ATACAMA.

ATACAMA: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile is a major chapter in the extended project, CHANGING PERSPECTIVES: Renewable Energy and the Shifting Human Landscape, which I began in late 2010. It comprises a major body of aerial work photographed from a small plane over the Atacama Desert in 2017, an ATACAMA book interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, another round of work over the Atacama in 2022, and, finally, a book of the same name, published by Steidl in 2023 .

The opportunity to create an exhibition arose at the suggestion and encouragement of Wendy Watriss, co-founder of FotoFest, and Steven Evans, FotoFest executive director. My friend and colleague Brad Temkin had a successful exhibition, The State of Water, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) in 2020. Perhaps HMNS would host an ATACAMA exhibition in conjunction with Global Visions: FotoFest at 40 ?

Lisa Rebori, Senior VP of Collections and Exhibits, and her team at HMNS were indeed interested. They were willing to professionally install an exhibition I delivered. The question of where ATACAMA would be exhibited within the museum was TBD, and they would not contribute funding towards its creation.
OMG! How could I bring the ATACAMA exhibition into existence?!?

My standards are high. The exhibition must be museum-quality and at home in an art, science, or natural history venue. Raising funds, curating and producing the work, designing the exhibition, including text and graphics, installing it with the HMNS team, and then promoting it to the world – all of it seemed daunting, to say the least!

In my studio with Dianne Duenzl (dianneduenzl.com), my able and dependable studio manager, we created a budget, a fundraising plan, and a production schedule. I knew that every month from December 2024 through March 2026 would be dominated by ATACAMA. It would intrude on my sleep and dinnertime conversations. ATACAMA would be IT for sixteen months of my life!

Back in 2023, I applied to and was accepted by Fractured Atlas as my fiscal sponsor for CHANGING PERSPECTIVES. My goal was to raise $65K in 90 days to make the ATACAMA exhibition a reality. My son, Zubin, shot, edited, and produced the intro video. I launched the campaign in early June 2025, using the Fractured Atlas fundraising platform, MailChimp for email, and Little Green Light as my client relationship management (CRM) system.

You learn a lot quickly when you take on a fundraising campaign. Why should you help Jamey with an ATACAMA exhibition when there are a thousand other requests for contributions? How do others decide whether to support you or not? What is the etiquette for such requests with close friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and those of means who support the arts? How often do you reach out? How do you best respect others’ decisions? And how do you give love and support back to friends who cannot contribute and are going through difficult times?

Not surprisingly, the base of my support came from artist friends and colleagues, with contributions ranging from $50 to $250. Members of my extended family chipped in as well. Several friends and supporters contributed at the $1,000–$5,000 level. But as I neared the 45-day mark, I had reached only one-third of my goal. I had been counting on a longtime client and supporter of the arts to come through at a high level. Radio silence. Then, out of the blue, he wrote, expressed his enthusiastic support, and contributed $20K. All of a sudden, the $65K goal seemed attainable!

It came down to the wire. We crossed the finish line with less than 24 hours to go, thanks to one last email push and the energy that comes with a goal in sight. Thank you to each and every one who supported ATACAMA!

In September 2025, I began final image editing and proofing, while curation, exhibition design, and production began in earnest. I wanted to create the exhibition with framed dye-sublimation metal prints and chose to collaborate with Blazing Editions. I asked Clay Williams , a talented graphic designer and longtime friend and collaborator, to help me design the exhibition graphics, and he readily agreed. Throughout the process, we worked closely with the HMNS exhibition and design team. The push was on.

Jamey Stillings at Blazing Editions for ATACAMA

In early February 2026, three crates arrived at HMNS. I flew to Houston with my wife, photographer Esha Chiocchio, who had been a constant source of love and support throughout the process. With the museum’s friendly and excellent exhibition team, we installed ATACAMA in a beautifully prepared space on the 3rd floor, near King Tut’s Tomb, the Hall of Ancient Egypt, and Death by Natural Causes exhibitions. On Saturday afternoon, February 21, we held an informal opening, followed by a reception generously hosted by my friends, Kath and Jorge Blanco.

©Jamey Stillings, Houston Museum of Natural Science, ATACAMA scale model of exhibition

©Jamey Stillings, Houston Museum of Natural Science, ATACAMA scale model of exhibition

©Jamey Stillings, Houston Museum of Natural Science, ATACAMA installation of exhibition

©Jamey Stillings, Houston Museum of Natural Science, ATACAMA installation of exhibition

©Jamey Stillings, Houston Museum of Natural Science, ATACAMA installation of exhibition

It is a different experience to have an art exhibition in a natural science museum than in an art museum. A science museum celebrates the exhibition’s content, whereas an art museum celebrates the art and the artist. But it is also true that nearly two million visitors come to the Houston Museum of Natural Science each year, compared with one million at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Each time I visit the ATACAMA exhibition, I see myriad people taking it in –– families, young kids, and older folks. I am grateful to each and every person who helped make ATACAMA: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile a reality!

The ATACAMA exhibition will continue at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through August 26, 2026. – Jamey Stillings

For more information about the ATACAMA exhibition, please view the interactive online ATACAMA Traveling Exhibition catalog.