Miriam Balanescu sits down with Elsa James to find out why she was inspired by the Tottenham MP

Why create an artwork dedicated to David Lammy?
I would say what compels me to make work is I respond to social and political life situations, things that are happening. It’s kind of always been that way – I’ve always responded to real events or real situations, or where we’re at at the moment. I’ve said before, I’m not a politician. My tool is art. And so if I can get somebody to rethink a certain situation, let’s say the Windrush generation, or people from Essex, if I can change somebody’s perception about racism, then I feel as though I’ve done a bit of my job. I was using this method of black font on black so that it’s kind of difficult to read, which alludes to the idea of who’s visible and who’s not visible in society. I started in 2016, making this series of digital works – they’re called ‘The Blackness Series’. When David Lammy was responding to the Windrush scandal, that speech that he made – I’ve logged that because it moved me so much to physically crying. I just found it very profound. We’re not really taught fully about Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. What I know is what I’ve taught myself. I want to be part of the history of telling this story and telling the truth, unapologetically, as well. The sweeping under the carpet has been done.

What was the timeline?
It was commissioned by Focal Point Gallery in Southend. It was my first solo exhibition. It was significant that it was in my hometown in Essex. I had a year and a half leading time, because galleries plan that far in advance with solo exhibitions anyway. I knew really early that this would be my opportunity to work with neon, because I’d be able to have the funding.

The neon being black – there’s an African American artist called Glen Lygon. I came across his work maybe 15 years ago and he works a lot with neon. He’d made work with neon, just the words ‘Negro sunshine’. The rod is light, but it’s wrapped in a black paint, coated. You have this subtle shifting in the way that it illuminates. I was also thinking about shifting physically, bodies shifting, going back to talking about the 17th centuries, African people being enslaved and being shifted across the Atlantic. People think that it’s a masculine format to work in. We know Tracey Emin works in neon, but apparently there’s not many. I don’t know of any Black female artists working with neon. I’ve got literally written down on my phone a list of different neons, what will come next.

What are the challenges of working with neon?
I think in some ways it’s just easier. It’s about the font. It’s more about the skill of the fabricators that are making it. It’s the skill of bending – I think it goes back to bending glass and light which is a French concept. The whole skill is time consuming, and hence why it’s so expensive. Last year at Focal Point Gallery, the gallery invited David Lammy – he is the shadow foreign secretary, he is fairly busy. They did get back to say he just can’t come to the opening. You know, it’s totally understandable. And equally he couldn’t come either to Gagosian again. I thought, oh, definitely, they’re a big gallery. I know that his partner’s an artist. I thought he would definitely come to the opening because it was on a big scale. But he does have other pressing, important things to do.

The ‘Ode to David Lammy MP’ will be at Bernie Grant Arts Centre until Monday, 30th October. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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