The American history of genocide, slavery, and oppression has literally been inscribed onto the map. Landscapes across ‘the land of the free’ bear witness to this dark history through their place names. Dead Negro Creek, Mulatto Bayou, Sq*** Tit, Wetback Tank, Savage Lake, Chinaman Hat. Like time capsules in which the past is recorded, they reveal the persistent legacy that white supremacy has imposed on society.
Place names are important cultural markers, changing them is an expression of power. Europeans renamed the American landscape upon their arrival, erasing indigenous place names. Derogatory slurs bled from the colonial mindset into language, and from language onto the landscape and maps. Creating landscapes that exist as living archives that have involuntarily carried these names, and the ideologies they represent, for centuries.
In the 1960s hundreds of N-word sites were officially changed to “Negro”, and a 2023 federal panel removed 650 “Sq***” names. However, on the first day of Trump’s second term, he renamed the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to the ‘Gulf of America’, and re-renamed Denali in Alaska, to Mount McKinley, showing how leaders still use place-names to assert power.
Through photography, collaborative testimony, archival research, and cartography this project sheds light on how historical injustices become embedded in the landscape. The series of straightforward but monumental landscape photographs highlights the nuanced beauty of these landscapes. They are juxtaposed with contributions by members of affected communities revealing each location’s historical context and cultural significance, inviting viewers to confront important questions about racism, history, and their long-lasting legacies.
While this conversation about the legacies of colonialism and racism is becoming increasingly polarized, this project contributes to the public discourse by presenting an undeniable example of how deeply our world is entangled with historical injustices.
