Shores of Walker Lake 1924

Editor: This is Edward Sheriff Curtis’s "Shores of Walker Lake." It's a beautiful, sepia-toned photograph. There's something very serene about the figure reflected in the still water. What should we know about the context in which Curtis was working? Curator: Curtis aimed to document what he saw as a vanishing way of life. But his photographs, while seemingly objective, were often staged to fit prevailing romantic notions of Indigenous people. Consider the implications of framing a culture as disappearing. Editor: So, the image might tell us more about the dominant culture's perceptions than the reality of the people he photographed? Curator: Exactly. And how those perceptions were used to justify certain policies and actions. What do you make of the subject's gaze? Editor: It’s averted, almost melancholic, furthering that narrative of a “vanishing race,” perhaps? It’s helpful to think about how these images were received and used at the time.