ATRATO traces the environmental and geopolitical entanglements of Colombia's Atrato River, one of the most symbolic waterways in South America. A contested site of memory, extraction and resistance, the river was recognised as a legal entity with conservation rights in a landmark ruling by the Colombian Constitutional Court in 2016.

The Atrato River winds through the dense, biodiverse forests of Colombia's Chocó region. Chocó is home to Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities who rely on the river, yet whose lives have been plagued by heavy mining, illegal logging and exposure to toxic chemicals. Despite the Court's ruling, extractive activities have persisted and the river now exists in a paradoxical state - simultaneously a protected ecosystem and an object of exploitation.

This work was commissioned by the Victoria and Albert Museum and is supported by the KHR McNeely Family Foundation (Kevin, Rosemary, and Hannah Rose McNeely), with additional support from the Embassy of Colombia to the United Kingdom.