Postcard – Multi-Colour William Kentridge Notes Towards A Model Opera A5

William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Kentridge, who is celebrated internationally for his prints, animated films, drawings and theatre productions, continues to live and work in Johannesburg. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, together with a diploma in Fine Arts from the Johannesburg Art Foundation. As a former aspiring actor, he also studied mime and theatre at the L’Ecole the Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand (2004).

Taken from the video installation Notes Towards a Model Opera (2011) Kentridge addresses the vexed question of Africa’s relationship to China. The film uses the form of the revolutionary operas performed in China during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1968, the same year as student protests swept through Europe and the United States. The installation is about the weight of politics and the perseverance of the personal within these grand narratives, we see dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo, in a matching red beret, red sash and red flag signalling the wave of socialist revolutions during this period.

Notes Towards a Model Opera. 2014 – 15. Three channel HD film installation Still of HD video – 10 min 40 sec.