Little Lion Canyon, Utah c. 1870

Curator: Gazing into this photograph, "Little Lion Canyon, Utah," by John K. Hillers, is like stepping back in time. It has a certain quiet grandeur, doesn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. It evokes a complex interplay between the sublime and the historical weight of westward expansion and its impact on indigenous lands. Curator: Precisely. Hillers, active in the late 19th century, captured more than just landscapes; he captured a pivotal moment of encounter and transformation. The way the light filters through the canyon almost feels like a metaphor for revelation. Editor: Yes, but also a metaphor for the photographic gaze itself – a gaze deeply implicated in colonial narratives. The canyon becomes a stage upon which these power dynamics play out. Curator: I see your point. Still, there's an undeniable beauty in the composition, a raw, untamed spirit. Editor: And it's precisely that "untamed spirit" that demands we question whose spirit it truly was, and who was silenced in its wake. Curator: A necessary tension to hold, indeed, as we contemplate this vista and the stories it whispers, or perhaps, withholds.