Platform Oak, Stow, Massachusetts 1852

Editor: So this is Henry Hitchings' "Platform Oak, Stow, Massachusetts." It's a drawing, and I find the lone tree quite imposing. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see the legacy of Manifest Destiny encoded in the landscape. This tree, this “platform,” suggests a claim. Hitchings’ image naturalizes the colonial project, presenting possession as picturesque, perhaps even divinely sanctioned. Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way. More like just a pretty tree! Curator: Consider the date and context. What histories of displacement and erasure are obscured by this seemingly benign image? Whose platform was it before? Editor: Wow, that gives me a lot to think about regarding landscape art and its hidden messages. Thanks! Curator: Indeed. Visual pleasure can often mask complex and troubling power dynamics.