SUB ROSA

It all begun a few years ago when Rod walked around the walled borders of Copiapo, named after the river that once flowed through this city in northern Chile, in the Atacama, the driest desert on earth. The eternal sun has completely bleached the arid landscape; almost nothing grows here. Set in a barren grit, the houses looked as lifeless as the surrounding desert landscape.

Sub Rosa means “in secret”. Life in Copiapo has retreated below the surface, away from the merciless sun. Everything is buried underground, the city lies sunken, people live in darkened houses and work in the mines. Even the river has diverted, sinks into the ground, and continues to seep there. You don’t see a living soul; every now and then you spot someone catching their breath in the shadow of a utility pole. Everything is hidden in the cracks of the landscape. But then, after years of drought, while working and ploughing deep in the earth, rain falls above their heads and suddenly the desert is covered with a sea of ​​pink flowers, the rarest treasure that can be found.

Sub Rosa is about perseverance and hardiness, but it also evokes the idea that even in the harshest conditions, seeds lie hidden for future abundance and flourishing.