Lake Oahe 2002

Editor: This is Larry Stark's "Lake Oahe," a vibrant landscape print housed at the Harvard Art Museums. I'm immediately struck by the bold, almost dreamlike colors. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Stark's choice of such intense hues invites us to consider the politics of representation. Lake Oahe is, of course, deeply connected to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Does this vibrant, almost utopian landscape, reflect a desire to reclaim a narrative of beauty and resilience in the face of environmental and cultural trauma? Editor: That's a powerful reading. I hadn't considered the sociopolitical implications. Curator: The artificiality of the colours could almost be a commentary on how landscape itself can be a construct. Editor: I'm definitely looking at it in a new light now. Thanks!