Niagara Falls 1898

Editor: Here we have Sarah Wyman Whitman’s "Niagara Falls". It has a very serene quality, almost dreamlike. What historical context might have shaped Whitman's approach to depicting such a powerful natural phenomenon? Curator: I’m interested in how Whitman’s image engages with the colonial gaze. Niagara Falls, a sublime landscape, became a spectacle entwined with American identity and expansion. How does her use of soft pastels challenge or reinforce the romanticized view of nature as something to be conquered or possessed? Editor: So, it's not just about the beauty, but also the power dynamics at play when representing nature? Curator: Precisely. Consider, too, the absence of Indigenous perspectives in these popular landscape depictions. Whitman's work prompts us to ask, whose story is being told, and whose is being erased? Editor: I didn’t think of it that way, thanks! Curator: It’s a continual unlearning and relearning.