Before the White Man Came - Palm Cañon 1924

Curator: Edward Sheriff Curtis’s photograph, "Before the White Man Came - Palm Cañon," presents a romanticized view of indigenous life. Editor: The sepia tone gives it an antique feel, almost staged, with the woman carrying what looks like a woven basket. What do you make of the materials used? Curator: Curtis was very deliberate in his compositions. This image, like many of his works, was intended to document what he believed was a vanishing way of life. The title itself suggests a moment untouched by colonial influence. Editor: But whose gaze are we really seeing through? The basket, for instance; it's clearly a crafted object, yet it becomes a symbol in Curtis's narrative. Is this an authentic record, or a constructed scene playing into early 20th-century fantasies? Curator: The image certainly reflects the social and political climate of its time. It romanticizes a past that was, in reality, far more complex and dynamic. Editor: The process, the staging, the very act of photographing—it all transforms the subject. Even the canyon becomes a backdrop in this constructed vision of pre-colonial life. Curator: Indeed, it highlights the complexities of representation and the role of photography in shaping perceptions of history. Editor: It leaves me wondering about the labor and materials omitted from Curtis’s frame.