William Kentridge: Shadow Procession at Seattle Art Museum

William Kentridge: Shadow Procession 
Seattle Art Museum
July 1, 2004 – October 17, 2004

Seattle Art Museum (SAM) presents South African artist William Kentridge’s video, Shadow Procession (1999). This seven-minute long video was recently added to SAM’s permanent collection as the museum continues to update its collection of international contemporary art.

William Kentridge is widely recognized for his handcrafted animated films, drawings and theatrical productions. Influenced by South Africa’s political policies, Kentridge once stated that it was the job of the artist to escape the “immovable rock of apartheid”. His art forms focus attention less on the specifics of apartheid and more on the disorienting effects of living amidst prolonged violence.

Shadow Procession is an animated film that illustrates how William Kentridge rebels against the seduction of special effects and returns to techniques of shadow-theatre. He depicts a procession of strange shadow figures slowly struggling to advance through a deserted landscape. This haunting parade of figures is made from cardboard cutouts that move across the screen, hauling their belongings—donkeys, carts, chairs, sacks, and even whole towns on their backs—as if in an exodus. Interrupting the exodus is a grotesque strutting buffoon, William Kentridge’s version of Ubu, a ridiculous dictator created by the French writer Alfred Jarry for a play entitled Ubu Roi in the late 19th century. An unexpected musical score accents the visual contrasts as “What a Friend I Have in Jesus” is sung by Alfred Makgalemele.

While Shadow Procession can be seen literally as a statement about the forced migrations of laborers in South Africa, it also questions two urban personalities- the person who stumbles from carrying too much of the world in their minds and the authority figure who doesn’t realize how bumbling his brute force seems to those around him. William Kentridge states, “I am trying to capture a moral terrain in which there aren’t really any heroes, but there are victims. A world in which compassion just isn’t enough.”

Fascination with William Kentridge’s expressive drawing and filmmaking techniques has inspired a documentary entitled Drawing the Passing. This 56-minute documentary, based on a collaboration between a filmmaker and an art historian in 1999, is available for viewing in the 4th floor resource room. Curated by Pamela McClusky, Art of African and Oceanic Curator.

SAM - SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
Seattle, WA 98101
www.seattleartmuseum.org