[Wharf, South Side of James River, Opposite Richmond, Virginia] 1861 - 1865

Editor: We’re looking at "[Wharf, South Side of James River, Opposite Richmond, Virginia]," a gelatin-silver print taken between 1861 and 1865 by John Reekie. It's currently housed at The Met. It has a kind of haunting quality – the starkness of the black and white and all those hulking wooden structures, making you wonder about labor and trade, and all sorts of hidden stories. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Hidden stories, exactly! It almost feels…unfinished, doesn’t it? Like a stage set between acts. Those massive, skeletal timbers—they practically vibrate with potential, don’t they? They whisper of industry, certainly, but also of transition and perhaps, loss. Consider the Civil War context. What are we building here, really? Is it progress, or something more…destructive? What do you imagine the people building the wharf would be thinking? Editor: Maybe they're hopeful, building towards the future even during the war. Or maybe they’re just doing their jobs, day in and day out. Curator: Precisely! That tension, that ambiguity – that's what keeps me hooked. Think about those repetitive horizontal lines of the wooden planks versus the towering verticals of the masts and structures. It is kind of comforting, even hopeful, if you contrast that to what they may be building this for during the war. See how Reekie uses that contrast? He gives us a physical representation of the conflicts present in this harbor, wouldn't you agree? It's visually fascinating but makes you wonder what happened to them, all this time later. Editor: Definitely! The photo really makes you pause and imagine their lives, and what was going to happen. Curator: Exactly! Sometimes, the most potent art asks more questions than it answers.