Udisgt fra Reldalsfjeldet nedover gaarsbottnen mod folgffonden, Noorwegen c. 1880 - 1900

Editor: So, this is a gelatin silver print from between 1880 and 1900, titled "Udisgt fra Reldalsfjeldet nedover gaarsbottnen mod folgffonden, Noorwegen," by Knud Knudsen. It looks like a photograph of a valley in Norway. It feels... vast and maybe a little lonely? What do you see in this piece? Curator: It’s more than just a pretty landscape, isn't it? Think about what this image might have meant to Norwegians at the time. Romanticism frequently idealized nature as something to escape to, a space untouched by the problems of civilization. But then look closer at that road built along the mountain pass, the trace of resource extraction or access. What does this image say about our relationship to the land? Editor: I hadn't really thought about it that way. I was just seeing the "untouched" part of nature. So the photograph is not a celebration? Curator: It's complicated. The romantic framing pulls you in, that search for the sublime. But photography, even then, documents realities. Roads like that connected communities, enabled industry, but at what cost? Who benefited, and who bore the cost of that access to resources or connection? The romanticism of the period served a particular class and erased those narratives, I think. Look at the composition itself; do you notice how the mountains dwarf any potential inhabitants of this landscape? It becomes about the land and not the people on the land. Editor: Wow. It completely reframes it. I see how situating it in its historical context and looking at who is served by the representation complicates the image so much! Thanks for that new way to see. Curator: And thank you for pointing out the initial emotional response. The feelings the image provokes are a great tool for engaging with these discussions, don’t you think?