View on Canal, Near Crenshaw's Mill, Richmond, Virginia 1864

Alexander Gardner created this albumen print, "View on Canal, Near Crenshaw's Mill, Richmond, Virginia," likely in 1865. The photograph encapsulates a moment freighted with the Civil War's aftermath. Gardner, a Scottish immigrant, initially documented the war and later produced images of its desolation, like this one. The scene is of Richmond, the Confederate capital, showing the ravaged Crenshaw's Mill. The ruins speak volumes about the economic and social disruptions of the time. But it's also important to consider what isn’t shown. Where are the people? The absence of figures, particularly enslaved African Americans who toiled in this area before the war, is a stark reminder of their enforced invisibility, even as they were central to the South’s economy. Gardner’s image invites us to reflect on the selective nature of historical narratives and to question whose stories are told—or erased—in the photographic record.