Versierde poort op de oeverpromenade in Shanghai voor het diamanten jubileum van Victoria van het Verenigd Koninkrijk 1897

This is a photograph, taken by W.R. Kahler, depicting a decorated gate on the Shanghai waterfront, presumably made to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The image shows a structure of considerable size, built from timber. You can almost smell the freshly cut wood and hear the sounds of hammering. Erecting such a thing would have been a significant expenditure of labor. The photograph itself, as a mode of reproduction, gives an impression of how that labor was organized and put on display. The gate itself is meant to celebrate the British Empire, but it also signifies Chinese labor and resources being marshaled on behalf of that Empire. So, in a way, it is a monument to globalized production, and the image serves as a form of advertising, a means of further promoting the brand of British imperialism. Paying attention to the photograph's materials, making, and historical context allows us to see the complex dynamics of globalism at play, challenging simplistic distinctions between fine art and craft.