Our purpose is to find out how the photographic images of the saltpetre mines, the men who inhabited them, the industry that was developed from them, and the desert landscapes on which towns were built, have fed, reaffirmed and ordered a social and collective memory, subjective and personal, and also have imprinted in the "object photo" a double aesthetic and symbolic connotation. The study of memory -individual and/or collective- and the way in which it is ordered and expressed, constitutes a central element to understand how the life experiences are omitted, exalted and remembered; and also how what has not yet been lived is revived. Se busca indagar comp las imágenes fotográficas de las salitreras, de los hombres que las habitaron, de la industria que se desarrollo a su amparo y de los paisajes desiertos donde se levantaron las ciudades, han alimentado, reafirmado y ordenado una memoria social y colectiva, subjetiva y personal, cargando el "objeto foto" de una doble conrxotacian estetica y simbolica. El estudio de la memoria -individual y/o colectiva- y la forma en que esta se ordena y expresa, constituye un elemento central para comprender como se omite, se exalta, se recuerda lo vivido y se revive también aquello que no se ha vivido.