Gezicht op Mount Assiniboine before 1897

Editor: Here we have "Gezicht op Mount Assiniboine", made before 1897 by Walter Dwight Wilcox. It's a photographic print on paper capturing a stunning mountain scene. It strikes me as quite imposing, almost a symbol of untamed nature. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see more than just a mountain. Wilcox's work resonates within the context of late 19th-century exploration and its ties to colonial narratives. The act of surveying, photographing, and naming these landscapes was inherently an act of claiming them. Consider the Indigenous populations who had their own names and relationships with this land long before Wilcox. Editor: So, you're saying the image isn't just a beautiful landscape, but part of a larger history of exploitation? Curator: Precisely. It’s essential to analyze the power dynamics embedded within landscape photography of this era. Who had access to these spaces? Whose stories were being told, and whose were being erased? The "untamed nature" you see was someone's home. This photograph reinforces a narrative of discovery, conveniently overlooking pre-existing relationships. I encourage you to ask yourself who benefits from the "untamed" narrative? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn’t fully considered. I was initially drawn in by the visual, but I now understand how that initial view obscures deeper meaning. It's powerful to reconsider it through that critical lens. Curator: Exactly. Art offers us a glimpse into the past and a mirror to our present. Analyzing its socio-political implications empowers us to shape a more just future. The print makes us reflect upon issues that are relevant still today.