Chris Day fuses glass, ceramics and metal to explore Black history and personal identity
As the artist’s solo show opens in London, he tells us about how the legacy of slavery, the under-representation of Black artists and his mixed British-Jamaican heritage shape his work
Chris Day brings together glass and ceramics in highly personal sculptural installations that centre on his British-Jamaican heritage, postcoloniality, the legacies of enslavement in the UK and global struggles faced by Black people. The artist began his career as a plumber and heating engineer but gravitated towards the freeing and experimental potential of art, going on to study for a BA in Applied Glass and Ceramics at the University of Wolverhampton. Day’s works bring together his technical understanding of heating and electrical systems to the language of craft while invoking Black history and identity politics to generate conversations around issues that are critical today. He spoke to us about his work, just as his solo show opened at Vessel Gallery in London.
Crafts: How did you come to use such a mix of materials in your work?
Chris Day: Working with metal has been a central part of my life for so long that it felt natural to introduce this medium into my work when I began making vessels and installations. My time at Wolverhampton, however, gave me the freedom to explore materials I hadn't had the opportunity to use before.
Many students on the course opted to either become glass artists or ceramic artists and, even in the art world, there seems to be a clear divide between the two disciplines. This divide resonated with me in relation to how society has engaged throughout history towards mixed-race relationships and identity. I try to represent this in my work by using materials that would not usually be used in conjunction with each other to demonstrate that, given the chance, glass and ceramics can sit well together.
What is the most significant work in the show?
If I had to pick one it would be Commodity Triptych (2020). This work is a result of my research into slavery and the dehumanising and brutal acts that were endured by Africans during the eighteenth century. The transatlantic slave trade established the commodification of human beings as property and inhumane acts were carried out with the purpose of control and domination.
The copper cage represents the restriction of movement – physically and mentally – and the complete control over another human’s life. The crate is there because its purpose is to carry as much produce as possible in a small confined space, which could also be said of the ships that transported captured Africans to the Americas. In the sculpture, the glass is attempting to break free from captivity, just like the human spirit, creating areas of resistance while still being overcome by the boundaries that confine it. I have pushed boundaries myself in how I work with glass and ceramics in this work, in my effort to convey my passion for this subject.
Strange Fruit I
Where else do you draw inspiration from?
I begin my creative process by sifting through a collection of objects I have amassed over the years. This ranges from 200-year-old Welsh slate to old cast-iron drain pipes, where I consider the texture and patination that these objects have obtained through their existence. It's also a way to upcycle and reuse existing material.
Visiting galleries and exhibitions, I always find myself responding to the most unusual pieces. Fred Wilson's Drip, Drop, Plop (2001) was perhaps the first piece of art by a Black glass artist that gave me the confidence to produce artwork that had political meaning. Today, my inspiration is driven by the inequality and lack of Black artists in the sector. Hopefully, my exposure will inspire those who think they belong on society’s scrap pile to discover art as a means of increasing one's self-esteem.
Are there crossovers between your experience as a plumbing engineer and your approach to making these hybridised objects?
Regulations, following rules and being precise is an everyday reality for an engineer. When creating artwork, I don’t wish to be confined by rules. I have had to learn the techniques for working with both glass and ceramics, but once I had mastered the basics, the fun began.
One aspect of plumbing that does come into it is in my use of materials that would otherwise have been thrown away – sometimes while installing pipework, I've thought that a particular object could be repurposed into something more than just for transporting gas and water.
And, just like in my former career, I use copper, a material that is intimately connected with Bristol and Liverpool slavers, who used it as a bartering tool in the markets of the West and Central coast of Africa. Working copper into my artwork amplifies this connection with the past and is a way of highlighting aspects of the slave trade that have been locked away for centuries.
Minneapolis Chris Day at work
What are your aspirations for the future?
The work I have produced over the last three years was created to engage an audience with the issues of slavery, civil rights and identity, but over this time I have realised that a part of the audience is missing – there are few young faces and the glass community is not diverse.
As a mixed-race child growing up in the 1970s, Black heroes and heroines in the media were few and far between, or so it seemed. I hope that the influence of artists of mixed-race background will give role models to the next generation and to those that have just begun the journey of self-awareness. I hope in the future to be involved with some kind of co-operative studio where everyone would be able to experience glass and ceramics at workshops that are affordable and accessible to all. I also want to work with children, especially those who don’t fit the traditional academic structure, to show them a world where they can develop and grow perhaps into the next Fred Wilson themselves.
