Stephen Tomasko

These palladium prints are drawn from my ongoing project titled “Civil”, which has taken me to over 250 different places in 15 States that bear witness to the horrors of the American Civil War. These particular images, made at night, lit entirely by the artist in the pitch black of the battlefield at Gettysburg, bring us face-to-face with stones that stood witness to, and indeed played an important part in, many of the battle’s most heated moments.

The Devil’s Den has been a prominent geologic feature for millennia. Before the war it was already a tourist attraction, drawing visitors from near and far to admire the natural beauty of its formations. During the battle, it became something else. Strategic and deadly just below Little Round Top, it played host to sharpshooters and skirmishes. One of the Civil War’s most iconic images, that of a fallen sharpshooter, was taken on one of these exact spots. Beauty and tragedy intertwined, lessons yet to be learned.

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