We’re already over a year post the murder of George Floyd, and the global reckoning this atrocious act sparked, but really, how much can we say has changed? This podcast has taken a while to come out, so we’re not as up-to-date as we could be, however, the issues we speak about in this episode are long standing, and universal. Ceramics, especially in the UK, is often the territory of the white middle classes, and we have a long way to go in the discipline before we can call ourselves an equitable, access-for-all type of field. The UK has the added excuse of that good old ‘we’re not racist’ report that the government brought out in March 2021, and centuries of profiting from a colonialism that operated with the human cost of slavery happening largely in other countries. There’s a culture in Britain of ignoring the difficult questions and our particular brand of racism is more insidious than the out there in your face type that is more likely found in America. Perhaps because of this, as with the open studio model, the US ceramic field is slightly further on than us when discussing access, institutional racism and the self organised networks that have sprung up to combat it.
I speak exclusively to artists from America for this episode, and we hear from some truly inspiring ceramic artists who are challenging institutional models in education, gallery and beyond to create more equitable spaces and communities for and by artists of colour.
Yinka Orafidiya @crafting.community https://www.yinkaorafidiya.com
Gerald Brown @geraldbrownart @claysiblings https://www.claysiblingsproject.org
The Color Network @thecolornetwork https://www.thecolornetwork.org
Antiracist Resources:
Read:
Octavia Butler (any of them!)
Caste: The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Colour by Ruby Hamad
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
teaching to transgress by bell hooks
Do Better by Rachel Ricketts
Why I'm Not Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo Lodge
Podcasts:
Resistance Podcast
Stance Podcast
Hear to Slay podcast on Luminary
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
1619
Follow:
@NoWhiteSaviours
@everydayracism_
@black_ceramicists
@thewhitepube
Executive Producer and Editor Aiwan Obinyan
Editing and Production AiAi Studios
Supported by Subject Specialist Network at York Art Gallery, Arts Council England and Newcastle University
Artwork by Kelly Jade