Emilia's Mirror – Act 5, Scene 2

Fred Wilson
Emilia's Mirror – Act 5, Scene 2, 2013
Murano glass and wood
Work: 203.2 x 124.1 x 27 cm

Fred Wilson is renowned for his interdisciplinary practice that challenges assumptions of history, culture, race, and conventions of display. By reframing objects and cultural symbols, he alters traditional interpretations, encouraging viewers to reconsider social and historical narratives. At the onset of the twenty-first century, Wilson began to place more focus on his object-based work. In collaboration with the prominent American glass blower Dante Marioni, he began producing his first glass artworks in 2001—ambiguous black-colored forms that assert a multifaceted political undercurrent. “The color black represents African American people because it’s been placed on us as a representation,” Wilson says. “Of course, the color black—the absence of light—really has nothing to do with African Americans. But there’s a whole other layer of meaning.” Wilson continued his exploration of glass with Speak of Me As I Am, his exhibition for the United States pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale. Much of this work developed from Wilson’s observation that numerous Venetian history paintings contained black figures, though he had difficulty locating them in written histories. Wilson began a relationship with the Murano glass company, located on the Venetian island of the same name, and created chandeliers and mirrors in a traditional Venetian style embellished with black glass. In 2009 Fred Wilson began work with Berengo Studios in Venice to develop a process for layering mirrors together while preserving the intricate details of a traditional 18th-century Murano mirror. The idea was to create a dark reflection, with the backside of the mirror coloured black instead of silver. Wilson further differentiated his mirror from the Venetian style of etching the back of the by choosing to etch his design on the front of the glass, “so that it would be more ghostly”.