Prince of Wales, Colonial and Indian Exhibition 1886

Editor: This is "Prince of Wales, Colonial and Indian Exhibition," a bronze medal made in 1886 by Leonard Charles Wyon. It feels so formal and stiff, literally a portrait pressed into metal. How would you approach this work? Curator: Considering a materialist viewpoint, it's important to ask: How does the bronze medium and its production process affect our understanding of power and representation here? The medal isn’t just an image; it’s a commodity, replicated through industrial means. It links directly to the "Colonial and Indian Exhibition", showcasing imperial resources, exploiting labor and consumption back in England. Editor: So, the choice of bronze, a seemingly "noble" material, is actually tied to the economics of colonialism? Curator: Precisely! The use of bronze here disguises a vast network of extraction. Reflect on the resources from colonized lands necessary to cast numerous copies of this medal. It’s no accident it's presented as ‘art’— this distances the raw materials from the brutal realities of colonial labor. We have to ask how Wyon's skills were leveraged to perpetuate British superiority, right? Editor: It makes me rethink what this seemingly simple object is really communicating. I never would have considered the manufacturing process like that. Curator: Seeing the medal this way forces us to unpack how art, material, and historical context create meaning. The medal is transformed from being decorative, and instead embodies and reproduces labor systems within imperial Britain. Editor: Absolutely. Thanks, I have learned a lot today.