Katoenmachine van Hibbert, Platt and Sons op de Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations van 1851 in het Crystal Palace in Londen 1851

C.M. Ferrier and F. von Martens captured this image of Hibbert, Platt and Sons’ cotton machine at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London’s Crystal Palace. The Great Exhibition was a celebration of industrial progress, but it also reflected the complex social realities of the time. Machines like this cotton gin dramatically increased production, but at what cost? This machine embodies the labor practices that fueled the Industrial Revolution, raising questions about the exploitation of workers, especially enslaved people, whose forced labor on cotton plantations fed these machines. Consider the hands that toiled, often under brutal conditions, to harvest the raw materials processed by this machine. It embodies both progress and injustice, reflecting a society grappling with the contradictions of its own making. It invites us to reflect on the human cost of industrial advancement.