William Kentridge South African Artist and Animator

Presented by:

Kayliegh Anderson

Sankavy Balasingam

Max Ashby

Emma Morley

Introduction

In this presentation we will be discussing the work of William Kentridge. He is a South African artist born

in Johannesburg on the 28th April 1955. He is best known for his prints, charcoal drawings and animation

films. William Kentridges work replicates the history and recollection of Africa and some of the positive

and negative changes that were made and how it has affected the society. The main subject William

Kentridge focused on was the German colonialism and how he finds that it is not fair to the citizens of

the country to be discriminated against because of their colour.

Focused Overview

This presentation focuses mainly on the relationship between William Kentridges work and the experiences of his past in Johannesburg and in particular, apartheid.

What follows on the next slide is a video from a documentary called William Kentridge: Anything is Possible which was made in 2010 and gives an insight into the way the artist works and where his

influences derived.

Fig.3. follows William Kentridge: Anything is Possible, excerpt from documentary (2010) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpamsEdCbX8

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpamsEdCbX8

Critical Perspectives

Kentridge made nine animated shorts between 1989 and 2003 and his work is viewed as very personal with much reference to his past. He worked in charcoal, on one sheet of

paper, adapting the drawing between frames to create movement. Phillipe Moins say of

this method What interests Kentridge is Time; its passing, the traces it leaves, the memory that

events, beings and objects leave when we close our eyes on our past. (Moins, 1998). This could

symbolise the idea of painting over old memories to create fresh new ones which would

reflect the political and social issues he experienced, in particular apartheid.

Fig.1. Felix in Exile, film still (1994) William Kentridges style of art is very thought provoking and especially when he emphases on the issues in South Africa back from 1960. Laura Cumming says

Kentridge's figures are often trapped by their own frustrated movements, sucked up by the showerhead,

strapped forever to the swivel chair in the office. Some seem to grow their own cages, imprisoned by guilt and

doubt. (Cumming, L 2013) William is trying express the struggles and hardships through

these figures showing us how the people had to live,trapped in a cage nowhere to flee

having to be controlled in their own motherland.

Critical Perspectives continued

William Kentridge was not a man who worked in a conventional way of the time. In the

book William Kentridge, Kentridge himself says Much of what was contemporary in Europe and

America during the 1960s and 1970s seemed distant and incomprehensible to me (Kentridge,

unknown). Kentridge not being interested or influenced by the west instead turned to

expressing the struggles of colonialism. Kentridge grew up in South Africa, which had been

colonialised by the British; because of this the black people living there originally were

treated poorly and were made to follow laws of segregation. Living and working in the 60s

Kentridge saw the effect of apartheid first hand. Not agreeing with this segregation and

poor treatment he made films such as Johannesburg to illustrate this. Fig.2 Telephone Lady , (2000)

Context

Colonialism

Colonialism is another country getting political control over a part of land or country and settling into it. Europeans were the most extensive when it came to colonialism, in the 1930s colonies and ex-colonies covered 84.6 percent of the globes land surface. Colonialism is often a conquest to control other peoples land and goods, this thus created profit for a country hence why it became so popular. Compared to the rest of Africa South Africa was an economic giant.

Historical context

The 1960s were years of growth in South Africas economy. Though the black population is larger than the white apartheid is now put in place. This meant that the two were segregated and that black people were legally allowed to be treated differently. Many events happen in the decades of the 60s and 70s that relate to this. For example the capture of Nelson Mandela that happened in 1962.

Conclusion

Multiple disciplines (charcoal, animation and prints)

Work was inspired by colonialism and themes of racial inequality

Other themes include history of Africa

Rejected conventional "Western" artistic values

Work was detailing the struggle of people

Illustration List

Figure 1. Felix in Exile, (1994) [film still] At: http://www.artishock.cl/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/William-Kentridge-vi%CC%81deo-Felix-in-exile-1994.jpg (Accessed on 13.11.14)

Figure 2. Telephone Lady (2000) At: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/aug/25/william-kentridge-printmaker-review (Accessed on 18.11.14)

Figure 3. Except from William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible [Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpamsEdCbX8 (Accessed on 19.11.14)

Bibliography Moins, P. (1998), Animation World Magazine At: http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.7/3.7pages/3.7moinskentridge.html (Accessed on 11.11.14)

McCrickard, Kate (2012) William Kentridge. London: Tate Publishing

Museum of Contemp. Art, Chicago, New York (2001) William Kentridge. Chicago and New York: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York

Cameron, Dan, (1999) William Kentridge. London: Phaidon Press

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kentridge-johannesburg-2nd-greatest-city-after-paris-t07482/text-summary

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MMt-AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP4&dq=Colonialism+&ots=sbmTofatds&sig=mhKg6adoqsR5c_xoW2oif8Y5YXs#v=onepage&q=Colonialism&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-e88AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Colonialism+in+africa&ots=NZnG4IwthC&sig=ng5Ohi1q7KSpxE94q_woD6k0VI4#v=onepage&q=Colonialism%20in%20africa&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=b-kKTMTClAoC&oi=fnd&pg=PT3&dq=south+africa+colonialism&ots=kLl2swGRvo&sig=IsvCq_N1RrU9oN2tAZ9mYDO0zaE#v=onepage&q=south%20africa%20colonialism&f=false

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/aug/25/william-kentridge-printmaker-review ( Accessed on 18/11/14)