William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg)

And When He Returned

2019, hand-woven mohair tapestry, 300 x 475 cm.

Photo by William Kentridge Studio. Courtesy of the artist and William Kentridge Studio ©William Kentridge.

Kentridge has treated the theme of ‘returning’ in many media including sculpture and projection onto a theatrical firescreen.  The figures here seem to be migrants transporting their belongings on a long march across the continents pictured in the map behind the silhouetted figures. This work is one of many huge tapestries produced by Kentridge over more than two decades in collaboration with the Marguerite Stephens tapestry studio in South Africa. The process of making them involves many people working together in several stages.  The raw mohair from which the tapestry threads come is dyed and spun by Swazi women. Kentridge designs the “cartoon”, the term used by tapestry-makers for a drawing of the design which will be transformed into the tapestry. The relatively small cartoon is blown up into a template the size of the finished tapestry by Marguerite Stephens. This template, with codes instructions about, for example, colour, is given to the weavers.  Nevertheless, there is also room for them to make some of their own interpretations when making their individual stitches of colour.  Each line of warp and weft requires a decision about which thread sits next to the one that came before it and which one follows it.   The tapestries can be hung as part of permanent exhibitions or can be portable murals that can be rolled up and carried from place to place.