Zes reliëfs van leeuwen en runderen in het Boulaq Museum in Caïro, Egypte before 1871

Editor: So, here we have "Zes reliëfs van leeuwen en runderen in het Boulaq Museum in Caïro, Egypte," photographed by Hippolyte Délié before 1871, presented as a gelatin-silver print within what looks like a sketchbook. I am immediately drawn to the texture of the paper, it really emphasizes the age and fragility of both the photograph and what it depicts. How do you read this work? Curator: As a materialist, I'm captivated by the layered production processes at play here. Délié’s photograph not only documents ancient Egyptian reliefs—themselves products of skilled labor and material extraction—but also exists as a commodity, circulated and consumed within a specific colonial context. Think about the resources required for photographic production in the 19th century: silver, glass plates, specialized chemicals, all elements tied to global trade networks and extraction. Editor: That's a great point. I hadn't really considered the layers of labor involved. Do you think the sketchbook format is significant? Curator: Absolutely! It democratizes the experience of engaging with Egyptian artifacts, moving them from the museum display to something more intimate and portable. Yet, consider how the 'sketchbook' and the gelatin-silver print transforms ancient reliefs into readily-available, exchangeable objects. It flattens labor into mere data; something available for immediate consumption. The craftwork becomes divorced from the skill that originally went into the design itself. Editor: That's fascinating. Seeing it as a product shaped by its historical context makes me think differently about photography. I initially just saw some documentation of another artwork but I appreciate all that labour and materials and process that actually goes into creating the photograph too. Curator: Precisely. By recognizing the material conditions of production, we unpack the complex web of social and economic relationships that mediate our encounter with art, across vastly different periods and cultures.