Yosemite Falls, 2,634 feet 1870 - 1874

Carleton Watkins created this photograph of "Yosemite Falls, 2,634 feet" sometime in the late 19th century. Watkins's work emerged during a period of westward expansion in the United States, deeply intertwined with ideas of Manifest Destiny and the displacement of indigenous peoples. His photographs of the Yosemite Valley, while celebrated for their beauty, also served to promote tourism and development in the region, contributing to the disruption of Native American land and culture. It’s impossible to separate the sublime grandeur captured in Watkins’s images from the complex history of land use and dispossession. How do we reconcile the aesthetic pleasure we derive from these images with the knowledge of their role in shaping narratives of progress and colonization? What does it mean to look at this photograph and consider the stories of those who were not included in the frame? The image asks us to confront these questions and to engage with the layers of history embedded within the landscape.