Artistic friendship that helped paint South Africa in a new light

The term palimpsest originally related to a sheet of writing material such as parchment from which text could be erased and the surface re-used. The term has long since been extended to include an area or surface that is marked, later erased and added to.

It is entirely fitting that the term be applied to the work of the artists Vivienne Koorland (born 1957) and William Kentridge (born 1955). Both are highly significant South African artists of European origin and their work is rooted in the politics, geography, history and culture of their country.

Koorland uses found or “poor” materials as the basis for her work. Instead of the traditional canvas she uses wood, sacking and other coarse or fibrous material, which she often stitches or staples together, to create a surface on which to paint, draw, sketch and otherwise to manipulate.

In one of her very large wall mounted works, which combines elements of painting, textiles and cartography, Koorland depicts an outline map of South Africa on which she has painted various birds and mammals associated with the country. The base “canvas” is made from Ethiopian Yirgascheffe coffee sacks, manufactured from jute or burlap. Also shown are indigenous peoples, as well as hints of their contact with European colonists.

Aspects of Kentridge’s methodology are also a form of palimpsest in that he creates animations from drawings that are continuously altered, erased and adapted. In a meticulous process, he draws and then photographs his images at each stage of their development. The photographs are later combined into a continuous animation. Kentridge often depicts himself in these drawings, showing himself running, dancing, shaving, and even drawing. Often these animations are populated by characters and events that combine to create unsettling narratives, sometimes accompanied by music — melodic and haunting with an African soul. He uses books such as antique ledgers, which he draws over to create his animations, further emphasising the rewriting of history, ideas and identity.

The work of both artists is rarely, if ever, directly political but imagery, material, sound and fragmented narrative combine to create work of an intensely powerful and disquieting nature.

Runs until February 19