NO
5
PHOTOS
COURTESY
OF
WILLIAM
KENTRIDGE STUDIO
INTERVIEW
TRACY LYNN CHEMALY
RENAISSANCE MAN
WilliamKentridgeopenshis largest-ever exhibition on African soil in 10 years, with two
simultaneous shows in Cape Town.
hy ShouldI Hesitate:
PuttingDrawingsto Work
at theZeitzMuseumof
ContemporaryArt Africa
surveysmorethanfourdecadesof
WilliamKentridge’sartisticproduction
in drawing,stop-frameanimation,
video,prints,sculpture,tapestry
andlarge-scaleinstallation.At the
sametime,WhyShouldI Hesitate:
Sculptureat theNorvalFoundationArt
Museumis an exhibitionof previous
three-dimensionalworksas wellas
new pieces created specially for the
show.VISIgetstheinsidescoopfrom
theJohannesburgartistaheadof this
much-anticipated exhibition.
“WhyShouldI Hesitate”is theprefix
to bothexhibitions.Tellus aboutthis
title.It’s a conundrum.Whyshould
I hesitateaboutgivingit thistitle?And
whatare thereasonsI shouldhesitate?
I supposeit’s thefactthatthetitleis
a riddlewithoutan answer that makes
it interestingto me.
Thelinecomesfroma character
inThe Head & the Load, a theatrical
productionaboutAfricain theFirst
WorldWarthatwe made,whosays,
“WhyshouldI hesitate?Whyshould
I hesitate to go off to the war?”
ForWhyShouldI Hesitate:Sculpture,
whatmadeyoubringtogether
thiscollectionof piecesthatwere
eitherpreviouslyusedas props,or
are imagesfromyouranimations
comingto life in 3D form?Thisis the
firstexhibitionI’vedonethatfocuses
on sculpturaland3D work.Thereare
a lot of kinetic sculptures that either
W
�ISI REASONS
visi.co.zaAUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 138