Tongs 1797 - 1800

Curator: Well, isn't this peculiar? Immediately I get this sense of, almost loneliness from this utilitarian object captured in black and white, even though it would be so cheerful and useful usually. Editor: Indeed. These tongs, crafted from silver around 1797-1800, offer a glimpse into the aesthetics of a bygone era, revealing, really, the stark economic disparity of that time. Think of who owned these objects and who decidedly did not. Curator: Absolutely. Though they're simply tongs, meant for grabbing sugar cubes maybe, I picture a meticulously set table, perhaps in a dimly lit room... Everything precisely placed, yet something still feels missing, some unacknowledged human presence, don't you think? The world reflected on its shining surface feels vacant. Editor: That hollowness might stem from the context. Sugar, after all, was integral to transatlantic slavery, and its presence, mediated by objects like these tongs, speaks to issues of colonialism, forced labor, and the profound inequities it fostered. Who benefited from their utility, at whose cost? Curator: Of course, there is that darker undertow to such refined things. But visually, the artist, perhaps unknowingly, managed to capture that. It is also very clever; the almost organic symmetry, the rippling decorative patterns on each arm, contrast starkly with their rigid functionality...I find that quietly evocative. Editor: Those carefully etched patterns, mirroring ocean waves, feel less "organic" to me and more intentionally evocative of that global trade. A decorative echo that highlights the connection of an elite class with exploitative practices, subtly obscured, but undeniably there, in plain sight. Curator: Right, a beautiful prison...And I suppose, seeing these, even out of their historical context, reminds me to question every small, routine pleasure or privilege. You always get me thinking! Editor: And you help me consider that perhaps even in utilitarian objects of conspicuous consumption, there is an invitation to hold the weight of their presence in the larger narratives we weave in service of justice and collective liberation.