Scottish Landscape with Figures after 1805

Editor: This is Joshua Cristall’s "Scottish Landscape with Figures," a pencil drawing. It feels like a fleeting glimpse into a rural scene. What do you see in this piece, beyond the surface? Curator: I see a romanticized vision of the Scottish Highlands, but one that likely obscures the realities of life for those living there. Cristall, as an outsider, perhaps didn’t fully grasp the socio-economic struggles within that landscape. What kind of narrative do you think the inclusion of figures adds? Editor: It makes me wonder who these people are, how they relate to the land. Are they landowners or laborers? Does the artist give them agency or reduce them to elements of the scenery? Curator: Exactly. We must consider how landscape art can both celebrate and exploit a place, influencing how we perceive identity and belonging within it. Editor: I never thought of landscapes as having that sort of power dynamic embedded in them. Thank you! Curator: It's a lens we must always apply: who is telling the story, and whose voices are missing?