One of the most powerful voices in art today William Kentridge emerged as an artist during the apartheid regime in South Africa. Grounded in the violent absurdity of that period in his country’s history, his artworks draw connections between art, ideology, history and memory. Kentridge’s practice reveals the ways in which ideas and images echo across time and between different cultures.
Kentridge’s eight-channel video work I am not me, the horse is not mine is among the artist’s most ambitious moving image works and arguably the most significant work by the artist in an Australian state institution collection. It premiered at the Biennale of Sydney in 2008 and was gifted to the Art Gallery of New South Wales by Anita and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis in 2017.
Developed out of research for Kentridge’s production of Dimitri Shostakovich’s 1928 opera The nose, it incorporates stop-motion animation, live action, archival video, and a soundtrack by acclaimed South African composer Philip Miller. The large-scale, eight-screen video installation creates a deeply immersive experience.
An Art Gallery of New South Wales touring exhibition.
Image credit: William Kentridge I am not me, the horse is not mine 2008 (still, detail), Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Anita Belgiorno-Nettis AM and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis AM 2017, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program © William Kentridge
