Kentridge, William
William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg on 1955.
He earned a Ba- chelor of Arts degree in Politics and African Studies and then a diploma in Fine Arts from the Johannesburg Art Foundation. At the end of the 1970s, he studied mime and theatre at the École Inter- nationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
Between 1975 and 1991, he was acting and directing in Johannesburgʼs Junction Avenue Theatre Company. In the 1980s, he worked on television films and series as art director.
In 1989, Kentridge created his first animated movie, Johannesburg,” DR 2nd Greatest City After Paris, in the series Drawings for Projection. For the series, he used a technique that would become a feature of his work – successive charcoal drawings, always on the same sheet of paper, contrary to the traditional animation technique in which each movement is drawn on a separate sheet.
His animations deal with political and social themes from a personal and, at times, autobiographical point of view, since the author includes his self-portrait in many of his works. This same animation technique was used for Sobriety, Obesity and Growing Old (1991), Felix in Exile (1994), History of the Main Complaint (1996), and Stereoscope (1999). In 1999, he created Shadow Procession using black carton cut-outs on pages of books and cards.
His participations include Documenta X in Kassel (1997), São Pau- loʼs 29th Art Biennial (1998) and the Venice Art Biennial (1999), as well as solo exhibitions in London, New York, Sydney, Kyoto and Johannesburg. He has also directed opera works including Wozzeck (Berg), The Magic Flute (Mozart), and The Nose (Chostakovitch), and has worked with the composer François Sarhan on a musical piece entitled I Am Not Me, the Horse is not Mine.