A slow day. In a slow week. In a slow month. What was I thinking, getting into this business? In this economy people are more concerned with remortgaging their houses than reframing their pictures. My mother was right - I should have taken that scholarship to the pet grooming academy. No matter how bad the economy gets, people will always have pets and they will always need grooming. But no. I wanted to get into the framing business and, as always, I followed my heart instead of my head.

I drum my fingers on the counter, gaze around my store. It's in its usual state of organized chaos, there's a place for everything and everything's in it's place. Those places just happen to be scattered around in a haphazard manner that only I understand or remember.

Look at the clock - 11.45 am. Maybe there'll be a lunch rush.

The doorbell jingles, my gaze snaps up and my heart races. I see a young woman standing cautiously just inside the doorway holding a picture of about 15x15 in a tattered old metallic frame. She looks around, getting a feel for the place. Framing may seem like a fairly straightforward procedure, but there's more emotional nuance to it than people realise and it's important the customer feel I'm on their wavelength.

'Hi there! How can I help?' - I try not to let the excitement of a potential customer show through my voice. Don't scare her off - the natural flow of the process must be taken into account and my rent isn't going to pay itself.

She approaches the counter and hoists the picture up. It's a typical pastoral scene - rolling green hills, a flock of sheep, shepherd in the lower right hand corner, calmly keeping things in order. It radiates a safe, conventional serenity and represents a large proportion of what people come to me with. The frame itself is slightly bent, flaking and the corners are uneven. Oh yes, this has definite potential.

'So, just to get us going, what's the backstory with this piece? If you can provide some context, we should be able to figure out the perfect frame.'

She gazes down at the painting, and back at me. Like I said, there's more emotional complexity to this process than many would assume and she looks slightly abashed to be pursuing it at all.

'Well... this painting belonged to my grandfather. I'm not sure where it came from originally, but it's been in my family for decades, and has been in the same frame for as long as I can remember. I'm not entirely sure what I'm after, in terms of change, but I keep getting the feeling that maybe the current frame isn't, I don't know, sophisticated enough? Like, I look at it and I can see what's overtly there, but I feel like a new frame could reveal layers to it that we just haven't been able to see before'.

'That's a great start! I work with scenes like this all the time, there's been a real shift around how people see them in the last few years. Let me take this old frame off, and have a good look.'

I remove the frame and carefully spread the painting across the counter. No need to look particularly closely, it's a standard presentation of standard subject matter. While the customer is right in that there are layers that may have gone unseen, this isn't a particularly complex case.

'So, I'll give you my initial take. This piece is a textbook pastoral scene. The intent behind work in this genre is to capture the life of the Anglo agrarian worker in a way that shows him as a simple, content, valuable member of society. The shepherd is a common motif, with underlying ties to religious ideology, but we don't need to go down that road unless it resonates with you.'.

A head shake. She's still not fully relaxed, but is beginning to get into the groove.

'No, no. Religion's not a big concern in my family, or for me. I guess we'd identify as Protestant, but we don't, you know, actually do anything about it.' A slightly nervous giggle. Right, keep her comfortable - nothing too deep, try to keep it as non-confrontational as possible.

'No worries. What a lot of people are reacting to in these scenes is the feeling that pastoral art and literature was a manipulative ploy by the upper classes to explain to the peasantry that they were in their correct place and that the social hierarchy was necessary and natural. Obviously, as society's views around these things evolve, we become more sensitive to them. The most straightforward reframing that tends to happen with this kind of work is to take it from an outdated, nostalgic view of the content peasant and to instead frame it in a post-colonial context. Are you familiar with post-colonial ideology?'.

Another quick shake of the head. 'I'm in finance, so I've never really learned about ideology in that sense. I guess that's why I've taken so long to get this reframed. To be honest, I wasn't even sure it was necessary.'

'Well, you're under no obligation to go through with the reframing if you decide the original view is something you're more comfortable with, but what we can do now is run through a couple of ideological options, and if you're interested I can give you some leaflets to look over when you get the time.'

She begins to relax - the offer of easily digestible information often has this effect. For people who aren't well versed in social theory, or who don't have a background in the liberal arts, the whole thing can be intimidating and the intentionally impenetrable language just compounds the issue. For exactly this reason, I've spent hours upon hours pouring over stale academic texts, translating them into more accessible language and adding clip art. I, personally, abhor clip art - to me it's vulgar, the pictorial equivalent to Comic Sans, but it's safe and it's something everyone has come across at one point or another, meaning it's relatable. The intellectual in me dies a little every time I insert a stick figure or click the 'word art' button, but the practical side of me knows that the type of person who doesn't require this is the sort of person who is capable of reframing pictures on their own, and the customer is always right, even if the customer is... unsophisticated.

'That would be great, thank you'.

I begin my well-rehearsed spiel.

'Post-colonial analysis in art and literature arose mid 20th century as a response to the influence and oppressive nature of Anglo culture and the British Empire. The most typical examples of this are instances where an individual who belongs to a group that has been affected by this oppression 'reclaims' a famous narrative from the point of view of the non-Anglo participants. Off the top of my head, 'Wide Sargasso Sea' is a re-write of 'Jane Eyre' from the point of view the wife in the attic, going into how she came to be in that situation and the complex dynamic between colonial culture and the culture being colonized. There's also a re-write of 'Robinson Crusoe', written from the point of view of Friday, though the name escapes me right now... it'll be in the leaflet.'.

She's leaning forward slightly. I can see the cogs turning, she's intrigued, but still unsure. It's alright though, I know where this is going.

'A lot of the time, people who are themselves descended from the colonial culture feel a little bit uneasy with this particular frame. One factor is that it requires confronting an unspoken privilege in a way you may not have had to before. Another is the feeling that as you're on the wrong side of history, as it were, you don't have right to take part in this conversation because you aren't the oppressed party. All of that is natural, and sensible. But part of what the descendants of oppressors can do to make amends is to integrate this narrative into their own lives and legitimize the feelings of those who were, and are, oppressed. This is where ideological reframing can be an extremely productive thing to do.'

A slight slump through the shoulders - relief. A very common response.

'Oh, that's great to hear. I do feel sometimes like I can't talk about things like this because I've never experienced it'.

'It's a tricky position to maneuver, emotionally, but the fact that you can identify that is a really good start. I'll just pause for a moment to say that the post-colonial frame isn't the only one available for this piece - one could come at in from a Marxist position, or in relation to Durkheim's work about the effects of the industrial revolution on social life and support. There's also scope for some good Foucaultian analysis, though I'll be honest, were you to go down that road, I'd feel more comfortable referring you to a friend of mine. I can run through the basics of 'Discipline and Punish', but he's got a much better grasp of Continental social theory than I do... in any case, I can provide literature on all of these approaches and you can see which feels right'.

The tension through the shoulders is back. I've overwhelmed her. I tend to do that - I get carried away and forget to grade my language, or I talk as if everyone will be familiar with the theories I'm working with. It's a good quality in some scenarios, but retail isn't one of them. Time to get back to safe ground.

'One way to approach post-colonial analysis from within the colonial culture is to recognise that much of the oppressive nature of the British Empire on a global scale was reflected in social arrangements within the base culture itself. In this case, the strict reinforcement of the natural social hierarchy and the attempt to keep the lower classes in their place is just a different permutation of 'the white man's burden'. In this case, the burden refers to placating and mollifying the lower classes, rather that 'civilizing' people of colour.'

She glances at her watch - it's time for me to wrap this up.

'If you like, I can provide you with the leaflets I mentioned earlier and you can go home and have a look at them...' Please don't. I'm counting on her discomfort with this intellectual world to motivate her to take the first suggestion that appeals, have the picture reframed and be done with it.

'No, no. I really like what you've been saying about the complications of colonial dynamics... it's not something I'd thought much about but now that you've explained it, I think that is what was bothering me about this particular piece. I'd always seen in as benign, or simple, but I think that the discomfort I've been feeling around it does have to do with the… what was it you said? Privilege? Yeah… yeah. I think that’s it…’.

I give an internal thanks to the forces of the universe – perhaps I’ll be able to afford that shirt I’ve had my eye on after all…

‘Great! Well, leave it with me. I’ll draw up frame of reference for this specific picture from a post-colonial context. I offer a few different options for this. There’s the Basic, which is a brochure with the important theoretical points set out, and a brief explanation of how they relate to this specific piece. There’s the Deluxe, which is the brochure, a PowerPoint presentation and access to some articles further explaining the material from peer-reviewed journals or there’s the Platinum. This has the brochure, the presentation, the journal articles as well as providing some explanations of the frame itself and its relation to this piece that you can memorize and trot out at dinner parties, cafes, or if anyone asks about the piece. Of course, you can just use them as a base and add your own interpretations over the top, but I find a lot of the time clients will use the pre-packaged frame for a while before they feel comfortable with adding to it themselves.’

I slide a sheet with a break down of my fees and services across the counter. She barely even glances at it – she just wants this done.

‘That sounds wonderful. Yeah, I think the Platinum sounds like the way to go. It’s the end of the financial year, and I’m slammed at work, so having the explanations and thoughts written out for me would be great’.