How does Kentridge’s animation style help to communicate his ideas?
Please respond below with one well-considered comment (about 100 words) that refers to the reading (available on Blackboard)
Some supplemental materials to help get your thoughts going:
South Africa under Apartheid (Wikipedia article)
Felix in Exile
Johannesburg
One major aspect of Kentridge's style that greatly influences his work is his use of alterations. Kentridge alters and transforms his work by erasing and adding certain elements. "The result is loosely narrative dreamlike images". This idea of "dreamlike" images is very important in his narrative as people are constantly transforming and morphing along with the world around them within the story. The article emphasizes that certain things such as the paper and water become metaphors for transition and movement. While I was watching the first film, it was easy to understand the importance of the paper because of how the animation style forces it to stand out. The way Kentridge leaves a shadow of the objects as the move around the screen forces the viewer to hold on to the past images while at the same time interpret new ones. the article emphasizes this when it talks about the flow of the water which "seems to function as both purifier and sanitizer of the old world and a way to sweep aside memories and events that should never be forgotten".
ReplyDeleteWilliam Kentridge's illustrations of apartheid are put together in a manner that shows South African society as it exists in the aftermath of the tragedy. His style shows the addition of different objects into the drawings that add to the scene or cover up something that existed before, showing how things have changed and how the turmoil and tragedy is trying to be covered up and hidden from history. In the video, this is clearly shown in the scene with the black corpses that are wounded and oozing blood. As they lie in the landscape, sheets of paper float down and cover their bodies until "they merge with and disappear into the ground." This is also seen with the water used as a metaphor for purity. The addition of objects into each scene also shows the extra emotional weight and change that South African people now have to deal with in the wake of apartheid. Kentridge's use of shadows is also very powerful in order to communicate how the people of South Africa felt after apartheid. The shadows function as a sign of uncertainty. They ultimately are no longer certain where their standing is, even when faced with familiar surroundings. It is as though they are in a dreamlike world where they are strangers in their own place. Watching the first video, Kentridge made it clear of his dreamlike style in order to show how the people felt.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Kentridge communicates his ideas through erasing and redrawing to merge opposing themes and events. “The film juggles various dilemmas ‐ love or money? Sex or affection? Togetherness or solitude? ‐ in a turbulent sea of flux in which elements of the exterior world blur and merge into the interior world of the body,” through erasing and redrawing, Kentridge, juxtaposes conflicting ideas to show that the anxiety and confusion towards what is the South African identity. When he erases a line on the paper it leaves a trace that is visible to the viewer thus creating a link between what had come before, a woman’s lap becoming a telephone, going from hot and soft to cold and unfeeling. This left over line indicates the gray and uncertain area of identity for South Africa, caught between opposing ideas, like an erased mark, slightly visible but is supposed to be nonexistent.
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ReplyDeleteKentridge communicates his feelings and ideas through a style of animation that consists of adding, erasing and redrawing charcoal images that transform from their original shape. Using this technique, Kentridge’s work results in a “loosely narrative film consisting of dreamlike images [...] and psychologically charged ruminations of the world left behind in the aftermath of the apartheid”. His use of metaphoric objects in “Felix in Exile” such as the continuous images of paper, and the flow of water both relate to the old world before the apartheid and the new transitions the country of South Africa is now facing. As Rosetta Brooks comments, the focal point of each of his pieces are focused less on the event being portrayed and more on the residue or aftermath of the images. His style forces the viewer to hold onto past images as we experience the new. These shadows and lines left behind create a strong message to his work: never forget the past even as we move on to the future.
ReplyDeleteKentirdge's animation style is a compilation of erasing, adding, and blending of charcoal. He indivudally draws each frame but takes care to erase the charcoal from each successive frame. This erasing leaves a residue of charcoal behind that is essential for the success of his work. While he does not say that his works are directly about apartheid, it is evident that the social and political implications of apartheid create the feelings in his work. By erasing the past with a remainder of residue left over, Kentridge makes the viewer aware of exactly where the subvject was in the past. A duality is presented, past versus future. While the subject may have a clean sheet of paper to continue moving across, a trail is left behind that shows the past is very close, if not connected to the future. I think that this style of animation perfectly captures the emotions Kentridge is trying to instill. As a country, Africa cannot forget its past. It must acknowledge both the mistakes and triumphs of the past for the past is inextricably linked to the future.
ReplyDeleteKentridge's style helps communicate his ideas in a multi-faceted way. On one level, his technique makes for the "dreamlike images" that "metamorphose... appear, disappear, mutate into other objects or become abstract forms" This style is immediately recognizable and intriguing. Beyond the tangible and rather obvious effects of ghostly eraser marks, morphing figures, or popping colors though, lies a more subtle and intangible effect that shares an intimate relationship with the ideas and content that his films address.
ReplyDeletePerhaps rather than breaking down the isolated effects of style in juxtaposition with ideas, one should instead focus on the inherent interdependence of the two. The deeply interdependent relationship between Kentridge's style and his ideas is in many ways more interesting than the effect of either of them as single entities. His films leave such a powerful impression on the viewer not solely because of the way in which his style compliments his ideas. Rather his style cannot exist without the ideas that they address and his ideas, in turn, would be meaningless without such an appropriate style in which to represent them. Kentridge's style and ideas work so well together that they have themselves morphed into a sort of yin-yang of interdependence. What better way to address the dilemmas of "love or money, sex or affection, togetherness or solitude" than to reveal their inherent interdependence?. Kentridge's style works hand-in-hand with his ideas to ask questions of the viewer; what in fact is sex without affection, togetherness without solitude, or furthermore a style without an idea?
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ReplyDeleteWilliam Kentridge uses a handful of black and white charcoal drawings that have undergone numerous alterations (i.e. erasing and additions) in order to communicate his ideas. By compiling these drawings into an animation a narration is formed. Kentridge uses “music and onomatopoeic sounds” to create a visual representation of his narrative, which encompasses the “the story of apartheid” (Brooks1). His animations narrate the story of apartheid, which refers to the policy of racial segregation formerly experienced in South Africa. Kentridge states that he has never intentionally attempted to “make illustrations of apartheid, but the drawings and films are certainly spawned by and feed off the brutalized society left in its wake” (Brooks1).
ReplyDeleteKentridge incorporates various elements into his animation style that allow him to adequately express his ideas. He uses mainly black and white sketched figures as his images and alters them in certain ways in order to create stories and movements. He also uses mixes sound in with images with a simple musical background and various sound effects, which helps capture a certain mood. Kentridge sometimes had text in his works, like in Felix in Exile; there are words to help explain the various characters and events. The color choices are often very simple and the images are created from single lines, which helps enhance the overall mood and tone of his pieces. It seems that larger meanings behind his works are more important than creating detailed scenes and various aspects are left simple in order for the viewer to focus on other areas of his pieces.
ReplyDeleteI guess my original post was never submitted or timed out by the blog.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Kentridge has established for himself a very unique artistic identity. In Felix In Exile the concepts of time and change are very prominent themes. Kentridge uses an interesting erasure technique by drawing his original frame and then going back and erasing parts. He then adds or re-draws details on the original frame to create the next scene. This stylistic approach allows Kentridge to create as many frames as desired from the original image. Traces of old lines remain subtly visible to the viewer. As the film continues the more erasure marks are left giving off a sense of the passing of time. His unique technique and political contents surely helped drive Kentridge's work to the spot light. The flexibility of space and the action of a fading memory also seemed to be captured in Kentridge's later works. Even thou Kentridge decided to use simple mediums, such as charcoal, he still finds success in producing astounding animations with tremendous detail and depth.
Kentridge says that he never tried to draw apartheid, if this is true it is a testament to the effect apartheid had on daily life in South Africa. The struggle between the ruling class and the poor, between love and apathy, between metaphorical (and real) residue and purity, is all present in a way which forces you to see all of the struggles of this city and of felix himself. Though the film does not seem to follow an exact time line, the story seems to pull you in so fast that you almost need to see what is going to happen or how everything is going to be resolved. Felix appearing naked in almost every seen shows the vulnerability and innocence of truth while the fight at the end shows the power that truth can also contain. The use of water is interesting in the color and therefore life it is given and the way it surrounds love and seems to wash away the pain and negativity of the city.
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