Fred Wyver's Exit Britannia
British Museum Acquires “Brexit” Medal
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An art medal, titled Exit Britannia, created by designer and craftsman Fred Wyver has been purchased by the British Museum.
Fred Wyver teaches on the Silversmithing and Jewellery BA at the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester and produced Exit Britannia as an accompaniment to a student competition organised by the British Art Medal Society.
The medal was displayed alongside a collection of work from students and practitioners from universities around the country in an exhibition titled ‘Holding Stories’ (17 April – 10 May 2018) hosted by UCA Rochester which has a long history of teaching precious metalworking skills.
Exit Britannia critiques the Government’s handling of Brexit and poses questions about violence and social division. The medal’s powerful imagery, Britannia hanged in apparent suicide, contrasted with an embossed Conservative party logo on a highly polished surface, invites discussion of the economic impact of Brexit, of nationalism’s role in structural social violence, of mental health provision and the slow fragmentation of the conservative party which might be a mirror to our society at large.
Art medals, in contrast to coins or military awards and decorations, are intended to provoke a response from the viewer and have a long tradition of satire and dissent.
According to the British Art Medal Society: “Successful medals are small, hand-held, double-faced sculptural objects, normally in cast metal. There is a sense of relationship, either one of development or contradiction, between the obverse and the reverse.”
Fred Wyver commented, “They’re a fascinating medium to work in, it’s more like constructing an argument than making a sculpture, the dialogue between the front and back of the medal is a strong tool for getting your point across in a way that invites discussion. They’re also tremendously intimate objects, you’re obliged to hold them, to turn them over and manipulate them. They draw you in.”
The British Museum’s permanent collection of medals includes a variety of artistic and satirical pieces. Medals have historically been a medium closely associated with political commentary, as explored in the Museum’s 2009 exhibition Medals of Dishonour curated by Philip Attwood. The medal will be added to the museum’s collection.
The medal was sculpted by hand and cast in bronze by the artist in a limited edition of 5.
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