Carved Stone Wash Basin at Carmel Mission 1938

Curator: Editor: Here we have Gordena Jackson's 1938 watercolor, "Carved Stone Wash Basin at Carmel Mission." The starkness of the basin against the white paper makes me consider the labour involved. How do you interpret this work, knowing it depicts an object associated with the mission system? Curator: Given the context of the Carmel Mission and its history of forced labor and cultural assimilation of Indigenous populations, how do we reconcile the apparent tranquility of the image with the violent history it represents? Do the architectural details speak to a romanticized past that obscures the suffering of those who built it? Editor: That's a really interesting way to look at it. I hadn't considered the violence inherent in its history; I was mostly drawn to the textures and the play of light. Now I'm thinking about the object's intended use – ritual cleansing – and how that contrasts with the reality of the mission. Curator: Precisely. Consider the medium – watercolor – often associated with landscapes and picturesque scenes. Here, it’s used to document a structure complicit in a system of oppression. Does that choice of medium inadvertently sanitize a history of forced conversion and cultural erasure? Perhaps this artwork unwittingly asks us to confront these uncomfortable truths, implicating even seemingly benign representations in larger systems of power. Editor: I see what you mean. I initially appreciated it aesthetically but now understand it opens up a dialogue about colonialism and representation. Curator: It serves as a reminder that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Everything is connected. We can now reframe our reading, viewing it as not simply a rendering, but a profound question mark related to labour, faith, and oppression. Editor: Definitely. This has given me a lot to think about. Thank you.