Visi – August 2019

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