A Burial Party, Cold Harbor, Virginia. 1865

John Reekie captured this albumen silver print, "A Burial Party, Cold Harbor, Virginia" sometime between 1860 and 1869. The sepia tones lend a stark, documentary feel, emphasizing the geometric arrangement of bodies and the bleak landscape. The composition is structured by a strong horizontal division between the foreground, dominated by death, and the background, where life continues with the burial party at work. The eye is drawn to the brutal still life of human remains loaded onto a cart, their arrangement almost artistic in its horror. This foreground contrasts sharply with the repetitive, almost rhythmic digging in the background, performed by figures bent at the same angle, mirroring each other's actions. The photograph challenges the romanticized notions of war, presenting death not as noble sacrifice, but as anonymous and dehumanizing. Reekie uses the tonal range of the albumen print to highlight the textures of earth, bone, and cloth, adding layers of visual information that prompt us to contemplate the material realities of conflict. Ultimately, this is not just a photograph, but a stark commentary on the industrial scale of death in modern warfare, captured through the formal precision of its composition.