Terra non descoperta (Undiscovered Land)

Similar to other contemporary photographers like Jeff Wall, Jaar has worked extensively with the light box as a support for his photographs, which he finds attractive due to its associations with advertising as well as for its dramatic luminosity. In Terra Non Descoperta, the image of a Brazilian miner struggling with a heavy load is overlaid with an excerpt from the diary of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to America. The text discusses the generosity of the indigenous people, who reportedly gave gold to the new arrivals as freely as they would pour water from their gourds. With this juxtaposition, Jaar exposes the disparity of wealth and power between colonizer and colonized.