Crystal Clear
"Snel's work begins with what is usually overlooked"
Root Gallery owner Yvonne de Jong
In this work, a copper cleaning sponge is encased in glass. The everyday object is anchored in glass and shifts from a utilitarian object into a sculpture about care, invisible labour, and domestic politics.
Transparent about shine
The sculpture literally cast this invisible, unpaid, and undervalued labour into the light.
Concept & Research
The starting point of this work is a copper cleaning sponge, a object that is virtually invisible in daily life. It symbolizes labour that is rarely acknowledged or appreciated.
The research is a combination of years of material research into glass and how we, as humans, interact with each other and our environment. In this work, these two studies come together seamlessly.
The work investigates how domestic objects carry social and political charges. Who performs this work? For whom? And why does this labour often remain out of sight? By removing the sponge from its functional context and isolating it in glass, it is no longer used but observed.
Process
The work is based on artisanal glassblowing. The object is shaped through a controlled process involving various layers of glass and the careful positioning of the sponge before it is encased in hot glass. During this process, the sponge transforms from a flexible, pliable object into a fixed form. The heat and the glass exert tension on the material, causing the object to become simultaneously protected and enclosed.
The sponge continues to cast a sheen on the surroundings and creates a pattern of sparkle, especially when it catches the light. Chance plays a role here, with air bubbles, small shifts, and discolorations forming part of the work. These imperfections refer to the traces of labour that can never be fully erased.
Technique
In this work, glass functions as both a preserving and revealing material. Its transparency makes the object visible, while its hardness renders it inaccessible. The copper reacts to heat and time, causing subtle changes in colour and texture.
The combination of glass and copper emphasizes the tension between fragility and durability, between softness and resistance. Each glass object features colour spots, representing the stains that are polished away as an endless activity of cleaning. At the same time, they serve as a metaphor for the ‘blemish’ on a system in which domestic labour largely remains unnoticed, without appreciation or recognition. Moreover, this labour is in many cases performed by women, contributing to a structural imbalance between paid and unpaid work.