Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass by Black Artists

October 21, 2023 – October 27, 2024

Exhibition Overview

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness [sic], this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—… two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

-W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

A Two-Way Mirror is an exhibition of contemporary Black artists who have used glass to create work that deconstructs social, cultural, gender, and racial identity concerns. The artists range in background from African American, to British, to Puerto Rican. Each artist uses glass to reflect thoughts and bodies that have historically been fraught with exploitation. Due to its reflectivity and translucence, glass is an apt medium to interrogate identity constructs such as the theory of double consciousness presented by W.E.B. Du Bois in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk.

In this exhibition, we explore the historical representation of Black people through the medium of glass, ranging from work that borrows the abstraction of African art by exploiting the sophistication of its planar shifts to the production of traditional glass fetish objects like blackamoor pieces. The perception of self is always warring with that of the outside. Glass art has been predominantly devoid of access for historically marginalized people. This was in large part due to the cost of production, racial oppression, and the class division between artist and artisan. This exhibition cannot rectify this but can explore inequity of this history and offer works by artists of African descent that tell their own stories.

As the production of glass has become more accessible, the medium has become more open to different voices. This is an age of pluralism. People of different racial, gender, sexual, and class identities all can now tell their stories through art. Glass is a medium that reflects not only the inner truths of both the viewers and makers, but that of western society as a whole and all the clandestine and muddied histories that lie within its core. The beautiful parts, abject parts, resilient parts, and the opaque all make themselves more evident as the viewer continues to stare through the glass.

Exhibiting Artists: Anthony Amoako-Attah, Radcliffe Bailey, Layo Bright, Crystal Z. Campbell, Chris Day, Cheryl Derricotte, Alejandro Guzman, Mildred Howard, Jason McDonald, Parfums de Vigny, Ebony G. Patterson, Pellatt & Green, Related Tactics, Salviati and Company, Joyce J. Scott, Shikeith, Therman Statom, Renée Stout, Barbara Earl Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, Leo Tecosky, Kara Walker, Fred Wilson

Exhibition Images

Image Credits

1. Chris Day (British, born 1968). Strange Fruit, 2018. Blown and sculpted glass with steel, hessian cord and reclaimed electrical wire; Dimensions vary. Courtesy of the artist and Vessel Gallery, London. Photo by Duncan Price.

2. Chris Day (British, born 1968). Transition of Age, Made at the Museum in 2023. Blown and sculpted glass with micro bore copper pipe and copper wire; Largest: 27 × 9 × 8 1/2 in.. Courtesy of the artist and Vessel Gallery, London. Photo by Duncan Price.

3. Renée Stout (American, born 1958). High John the Conqueror Root and Orrisroot, Made at the Museum in 2011. Hot blown and sculpted, organic material; 8 × 4 in. Collection of Museum of Glass, gift of the artist. Photo by Duncan price.

4. Leo Tecosky (American, born 1981). Untitled, Made at the Museum in 2022. Glass; 16 1/2 × 12 × 3 3/8 in. Collection of Museum of Glass, gift of the artist. Photo by Duncan Price.

5. Therman Statom (American, born 1953). Ladder, 2012. Blown glass and mixed media; 76 × 15 × 6 3/4 in. Collection of Museum of Glass, gift of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation. Photo courtesy of the artist.

6. Radcliffe Bailey (American, born 1968). Blue Black, 2016. Glass and ink. 61 × 53 × 13 in. © Radcliffe Bailey, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and the artist.

7. Attributed to Pellatt & Green (British, 1803-1831). Cologne Bottle with Anti-Slavery Sulphide, circa 1820-1830. Blown and cut glass with cameo incrustation; 3 3/8 × 2 1/2 in. Collection of Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, museum purchase (90.22). Photo courtesy of Chrysler Museum of Art.

Exhibition Credit

Organized by Museum of Glass. Curated by Jabari Owens-Bailey.

Thank you to our Exhibition Sponsors