Boot op de Bow, met op de achtergrond Mount Rundle before 1897

This photograph, "Boot op de Bow, met op de achtergrond Mount Rundle," was captured by Walter Dwight Wilcox, an American surveyor and photographer, who lived from 1869 to 1949. Wilcox's images played a role in shaping perceptions and promoting tourism in the Canadian Rockies. These photographs, like many landscape images of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, present a vision of untouched wilderness. Yet, this vision often obscured the complex histories and displacement of Indigenous peoples from these lands. Wilcox's work reflects the dualities inherent in landscape photography, celebrating natural beauty while often ignoring the social and political contexts of its creation. This photograph invites us to reflect on the relationship between representation, identity, and the environment. It prompts consideration of how we frame and understand our connection to the land.