Panthera Brittania
To collect, to name, to classify is not an innocent activity. Panthera brittania is displayed in the style of a cultural artefact, reminiscent of those held in numerous public collections.
The artefact is a pure white lion, possibly made from marble. More specifically, the object is a representation of the British Lion; symbol of majesty, strength, courage, pride and empire. Like many cultural artefacts, this dominant narrative is precarious. It is strange that the lion should be chosen as a traditional symbol of nationhood given that lions do not inhabit the British Isles.
It seems that the British empire and its lion was reinforced in the unlikeliest of places, including across the dinner table. Panthera Brittania has been cast from a 1920’s ‘British Lion Blanc-Mange and Jelly Mould’. The object has been cast in sugar, a key commodity of empire and is designed to draw attention to the abject history of slavery and indentured workers.
Panthera brittania represents a reversal of the colonial lens and puts the symbolic British Lion under the spotlight. When empire is placed under the magnifying glass, should pride be replaced with shame, or at the very least, ambivalence and contradiction?
The artefact is a pure white lion, possibly made from marble. More specifically, the object is a representation of the British Lion; symbol of majesty, strength, courage, pride and empire. Like many cultural artefacts, this dominant narrative is precarious. It is strange that the lion should be chosen as a traditional symbol of nationhood given that lions do not inhabit the British Isles.
It seems that the British empire and its lion was reinforced in the unlikeliest of places, including across the dinner table. Panthera Brittania has been cast from a 1920’s ‘British Lion Blanc-Mange and Jelly Mould’. The object has been cast in sugar, a key commodity of empire and is designed to draw attention to the abject history of slavery and indentured workers.
Panthera brittania represents a reversal of the colonial lens and puts the symbolic British Lion under the spotlight. When empire is placed under the magnifying glass, should pride be replaced with shame, or at the very least, ambivalence and contradiction?