William Kentridge, born 1955, South Africa Search this
Medium:
Charcoal and pastel on paper
Dimensions:
H x W: 82.6 x 123.2 cm (32 1/2 x 48 1/2 in.)
Type:
Drawing and Collage
Geography:
South Africa
Date:
1991
Label Text:
William Kentridge's works on paper can be regarded as "stills," which he can later transform into animated films. Like many South African artists, his works often comment on the turmoil and violence of apartheid. Kentridge, however, deftly relates these specific histories to larger shared human dramas.
Kentridge’s acclaimed process includes making drawings that he erases or modifies, carefully photographing each change. This intense charcoal work bears the trace of every mark and erasure the artist made while filming sequences related to the mine shaft in the form of a slave ship for the animated short known as "Mine." With this image, Kentridge provokes consideration of the international implications of the removal of Africa’s human and mineral resources. Mines may be located in Africa, but their treasures and tragedies are part of broad networks of trade and collective denial.
Description:
Charcoal and pastel on paper drawing of a slave ship with people tightly packed inside.
Exhibition History:
Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 22, 2013-February 23, 2014; Fowler Museum at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, April 19-September 14, 2014
Encounters with the Contemporary, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., January 7, 2001-January 6, 2002
Claiming Art / Reclaiming Space: Post Apartheid Art from South Africa, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 21-September 26, 1999
Published References:
Milbourne, Karen E. 2013. Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa. New York: The Monacelli Press; Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 127, no. 103.
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