[Breastworks, Interior of Fort Sedgwick, in Front of Petersburg, Virginia] 1865

Curator: Let’s have a look at this evocative gelatin silver print, created in 1865 by Timothy O'Sullivan, entitled "[Breastworks, Interior of Fort Sedgwick, in Front of Petersburg, Virginia]". What strikes you when you first observe it? Editor: My immediate reaction is a chilling sense of emptiness. Despite the human figures dotted on the horizon, there's a stark loneliness. The relentless repetition of those woven barricades makes me think of endless waiting, the dull throb of anxiety. Curator: Indeed, and those repetitions are significant. These breastworks are meticulously constructed defenses. Look at the scale of labor involved, all this weaving and layering! This was a brutal war of attrition; the entrenchments themselves became objects of industry and strategy. Editor: It's that contrast that fascinates me – the industrial-scale war machine, reduced to…basket weaving. It's bizarre, almost artisanal. There's a ghostly imprint of hands all over this. The making of death delivered in neatly woven packages. Am I being too dramatic? Curator: Not at all! Consider that O’Sullivan worked for the Mathew Brady studio, documenting the Civil War. He wasn't just capturing a scene; he was producing visual evidence that helped shape public understanding, and perhaps even sway sentiment about this costly and lengthy war. Editor: Exactly! And even without color, it speaks of the earth and its rawness. Think about the invisible labor – enslaved people, no doubt – behind building such defenses. How different the experience of making these baskets was for them! A real dissonance for me... Curator: Well put. The landscape style lends a sense of order but remember, it is still an image directly implicated in this act of war, shaping national memory by documenting the materiality of its violence and the industry used to bring it. Editor: O'Sullivan’s artistry reminds us of what it took for soldiers and enslaved labor to perform that industrial act and make real a tragic American past. Ultimately, these entrenchments symbolize not just strategy, but how materials both concealed and shaped the American war machine. Curator: And on that rather somber note, perhaps we can all go away contemplating not only what art reveals, but also what it conceals.