Puppet Drawing

William Kentridge South African

Not on view

This drawing relates to a film called Shadow Procession Kentridge made for the 1999 Istanbul Biennial. Taking figures he observed on the streets of his native Johannesburg or saw in the newspaper, Kentridge joined torn pieces of black paper together with bits of wire for mobility then filmed the puppets in stop motion. For the related suite of drawings, Kentridge attached singular puppets to vintage maps, augmenting their reference to migrants, refugees, and other displaced persons. In speaking about Shadow Procession, Kentridge has also referred to Plato’s cave allegory in The Republic— where prisoners’ only visual link to the outside world are the shadows of passersby projected on the stone wall.

Puppet Drawing, William Kentridge (South African, born Johannesburg, 1955), Collage of torn black paper, pins, tape, and colored pencil on printed paper with handcoloring mounted on foam core board

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