Confederate Earthworks, Belle Plain, Virginia 1863

Curator: There’s a stark stillness in this photograph that I find compelling. A gelatin silver print dating back to 1863, captured by James Gardner. It’s called "Confederate Earthworks, Belle Plain, Virginia." I find it heavy. Editor: It is heavy. Those endless rows of tents juxtaposed against the vast, scarred landscape… there's a visual imbalance that reflects the inherent power dynamics at play during the Civil War. All those men huddled, presumably, waiting to advance. Curator: Waiting, yes. And something about the placement of the tents, mimicking the gentle slope behind them, makes them seem so vulnerable, like insects clinging to the earth. Editor: And the hill itself? Look at the deep trenches. It’s not just a hill anymore; it's a wound, bearing witness to violence and human struggle. It speaks volumes about the environmental toll of conflict, which is a context frequently omitted. Curator: A wound, perfectly put. There’s almost no light in it, either. Makes you wonder what shadows that hill held, metaphorically speaking. Makes the eye wander toward those figures at the crest. It looks almost Biblical. Are they watching something, guarding? Editor: Or surveying their claim, solidifying power in a stolen land? Those silhouetted figures operate almost as a visual period at the end of an awfully long sentence, don't they? A punctuation mark that leaves the narrative intentionally open-ended. It is the beginning and middle of a story about imperialism, just distilled down. Curator: Distilled, yes. You get the sense there are so many lives folded into the story here. And the bleak, monochromatic rendering enhances that feeling, scrubbing away any romance of the time, right down to stark realities of the setting. Editor: Absolutely. The image is a masterclass in visual rhetoric, employing the aesthetic conventions of landscape photography to underscore an indictment. To the camera's early consumers, that could have gotten past the eye of censors. This work really does demand that we contend with uncomfortable questions. Curator: Well, in this medium it can certainly withstand the challenge. It gives so much for a silver gelatin print. It almost looks…alive. Editor: Perhaps because its subject matter very much still is. And isn’t that photography's original sin and saving grace: capturing a present that immediately transforms into history?