© XAVIER RIBAS - Nitrate_Northiana (2014) Pigment prints, vinyl text. Varaible dimensions. Ed 3+1ap

Northinana (2014). Installation MACBA [Installation photograph: Marc Roig]

Northiana [Odds and Ends]. Jar containing a sample of Chilean nitrate (c.1880s), owned by nitrate investor and monopolist John Thomas North (1842-1896), known as the ‘Nitrate King’, photographed in the ballroom of his house at Avery Hill, now part of the Library of the University of Greenwich. Proctor Collection, University of Greenwich Archive, London. The seven text elements are society news published in the London newspaper The Express during 1889, the year John Thomas North visited Chile to lobby against Chilean president José Manuel Balmaceda’s intentions to nationalise the nitrate industry. Congressional opposition led to the civil war in 1891 and Balmaceda’s suicide.

Northiana [Fancy Dress Ball]. List of characters attending John Thomas North’s fancy dress ball at the Hôtel Métropole in London on Friday 4 January 1889, a few days before his voyage to Chile to meet Chilean President José Manuel Balmaceda. Balmaceda wanted to nationalise nitrate to take control of the natural resources and fund a massive plan to modernise Chile. John Thomas North visited Chile to oppose this plans and gain support of members of Congres. This lead to the Civil War in 1891 which resulted in the deposition of Balmaceda and his suicide in 1893.

Northiana [Jar of Nitrate]

Northiana [Fancy Dress Ball]. Viny text dimensions variable

Northiana [Fancy Dress Ball]. Installation MACBA

Northiana [Odds and Ends] (2011). Installation MACBA [Installation photograph: Marc Roig]

Northiana [Odds and Ends] (2011) [details]

Northiana [Fullerton Three Times Removed] (2011) [diptych]

Photographic negatives of the skeleton of the famous hound Fullerton owned by John Thomas North. Fullerton is preserved in the
Taxidermy Collection of the Natural History Museum at Tring.