Pioneer Lantern c. 1941

LeRoy Griffith painted this watercolor of a "Pioneer Lantern", an object that evokes memories, histories, and myths of westward expansion. Griffith, born in 1855, was the son of an abolitionist, and lived through a period where the narrative of pioneer life was being romanticized and commodified. But the lantern also speaks to the violent displacement of indigenous peoples, the exploitation of resources, and the forging of a new American identity, built on both promise and oppression. Notice how light is allowed to pass through this object, with cut-out stars. The lantern is a humble object that might suggest ideas of resilience, independence, but also the complicated legacy of settling a nation. Griffith seems to ask us to consider what stories we choose to illuminate.