James Lake’s cardboard creations come to life in new animated feature

To mark Disability History Month 2024 and International Day of Disabled People (today, 3 December), the artist James Lake, known for his life-size cardboard characters, sculptures and scenes, has released an animated short film Another Day. The poignant film explores themes of loneliness, routine, and the nature of how we value creativity, James tells It’s Nice That. “Who has the right and the choice to be creative is directly echoed in the choice of materials,” James says, pointing toward his use of such an everyday material as cardboard, so often seen as disposable and quotidian.

“The title Another Day suggests the idea of adversity or the daily grind of ‘yet another day’ to get through,” James says, “and the character hears the same old voices complaining on talk radio about things we should be cross or anxious about.” However, as the film posits, perhaps the act of making is the way forward through the grey, pessimistic world portrayed in the film. “Another Day changes its meaning through the act of creating art towards a more purposeful and positive day,” James explains.

These introspective themes of creation and optimism are echoed throughout James’ practice, having worked with cardboard for a long time – a material the artist has been drawn to for both poetic and practical reasons. “As a physically disabled man who comes from a very hard working, but modest background, cardboard is the medium I have been able to most readily work with.” In sum, James can modify and adapt the material to the limitations of space and his own accessibility. 

For James, the material is reflected in the central character, and the need to recognise the individual but their hopes and aspirations too. “Cardboard has a strength and frailty to it that is representative of the human condition and our deteriorating climate,” he says. “The film is about how we need to start valuing people from all walks of life.” On top of this, Another Day holds an important message – the importance of pursuing creativity. “The film is also for those people who could be great artists but feel this is a career choice for a select group,” James says. “You don’t need to work with the most expensive materials in a white walled studio to make great art.”

But James believes that Another Day offers more than a single takeaway, especially in context of Disability History Month. “The film is, on one level, a story about overcoming adversity, but it is also a universal story that many people will relate to,” James ends. “It is fundamentally a story about finding and creating choice and agency for yourself even in the darkest of times.”

Another Day is created in collaboration with Shape Arts and Hot Knife Digital Media, as part of the Adam Reynolds Award Programme.