Waterval in de Kaaterskill vallei in het Catskillgebergte 1857 - 1862

This stereoscopic photograph captures the Waterval in de Kaaterskill vallei in the Catskillgebergte. What's fascinating here is the act of capturing the sublime, untamed American landscape, and turning it into a consumable, reproducible image. This photograph speaks to notions of expansion, progress, and the "winning" of the West. Yet we must remember that these landscapes were not empty. They were the homelands of indigenous peoples, whose displacement and erasure were integral to the construction of the American identity and the pursuit of manifest destiny. The very act of framing and selling these images participated in the complex cultural and economic exchanges that shaped the United States. This image is more than a pretty picture. It's a layered document that holds within it questions of land, identity, and power.