Shaping the Imperialist Imagination. Stereographs from the Museum Collection
Shaping the Imperialist Imagination invites visitors to explore the captivating world of stereographic photography, one of the most remarkable visual innovations of the 19th century. Through paired images viewed with a stereoscope, this medium created an illusion of depth, offering audiences an immersive experience that anticipated the visual logic of cinema and modern media.
These images enabled viewers to embark on virtual journeys across continents and cultures, transforming domestic spaces into windows onto distant worlds. Yet beyond their sense of wonder, stereographs also conveyed ideological frameworks: they contributed to the construction and dissemination of cultural hierarchies, reinforcing a distinctly Western vision of power, progress, and global order.
Drawing from the rich holdings of the California Museum of Photography, the exhibition examines the role of stereographic imagery in shaping the American imagination during a critical period of territorial expansion and imperial ambition. The photographs depict scenes from U.S. territories, Native lands, and European colonies, revealing not only distant geographies but also the perspectives and biases of their makers.
Through this visual archive, a language of representation emerges—one grounded in notions of difference and superiority—that helped define how Americans understood both the wider world and their place within it.
Curated by a group of undergraduate students at the University of California, Riverside, as part of a capstone seminar in the History of Art, the exhibition offers a contemporary reassessment of materials originally intended for popular entertainment. By revisiting these images today, the project highlights their ideological function and their role in shaping collective perception.
Under the guidance of Associate Professor Susan Laxton and coordinating curator Alyse Yeargan, Shaping the Imperialist Imagination reflects a new generation’s critical engagement with historical visual culture.
The exhibition encourages viewers to look closely—not only at what these images depict, but at what they reveal about vision, power, and the enduring influence of photography in constructing a nation’s worldview.
Shaping the Imperialist Imagination. Stereographs from the Museum Collection
through May 17, 2026
California Museum of Photography – Riverside – CA
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