William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg) is one of South Africa’s most renowned artists. His charcoal drawings and animated short films have been met with critical acclaim for their strong imagery and social pathos. His art springs from his own personal observations, in which he depicts Johannesburg during apartheid, the period before democracy was introduced in South Africa.
10 Drawings for Projection is a series of animations Kentridge began in 1989, which tell the tale of Felix and Soho. The 10 collected animations, exhibited together at Bonniers Konsthall, depict one of Kentridge’s typical dystopian cityscapes. Through charcoal drawings that are developed, erased and reworked before the camera, we follow the two characters as they travel through time and space. This drawing technique, which shows how the pictures are in a constant state of flux, can be compared to stories of social and political change. This drawing technique has also been said to be reminiscent of the human faculty of memory, which is constantly in a state of change and transformation.
A crucial aspect of Kentridge’s work is that rather than directly portraying a particular historical event, he expresses how Johannesburg as a city has inspired varying complex, multi-faceted mental states. Above and beyond the fact that apartheid created enormous divides amongst the city’s inhabitants, Kentridge wishes to touch upon the idea of what it means to live one’s life.