Buzzard Roost, GA 1866

George N. Barnard made this photograph entitled ‘Buzzard Roost, GA’ sometime during or after the American Civil War, using the wet collodion process. Here, we see a landscape scarred by conflict, trees felled and earth churned. Barnard’s photographs served a documentary purpose, aiming to record the harsh realities of war. But his images are far from neutral records. This was a time when photography was still finding its place among the established art institutions. Photographers like Barnard often emulated the compositional techniques of landscape painting to give photography an artistic validation. To fully understand this photograph, we need to dig into the archives, cross-referencing military reports, and accounts from the time. Through such historical contextualization, we can better understand the complex interplay between art, history, and social memory.