[Yosemite National Park, California] 1876 - 1880

This is Carleton Watkins’ circular photograph of Yosemite National Park, made sometime in the mid-19th century. Watkins emerged as a photographer during a pivotal time in American history, as westward expansion was displacing indigenous communities and reshaping the landscape. Watkins’ photographs played a crucial role in shaping the perception and promotion of the American West. His images emphasized the sublimity and untouched nature of landscapes like Yosemite, contributing to the area’s designation as a national park in 1864. But Watkins’ artistic choices also masked the complex history of the land, eliding the violent displacement of native peoples and the environmental impact of resource extraction. Consider the emotional weight of these images, which beckoned settlers with promises of abundance and opportunity, yet obscured the human and ecological costs of this expansion. Watkins invites us to see nature through a lens that is both beautiful and deeply implicated in the narratives of progress and dispossession.