Art and politics collide

I went to the William Kentridge exhibition at the Royal Academy aware of his interesting background – his parents were white South African lawyers who defended black anti-apartheid activists like Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko – but unsure whether I would find his work visually inspiring. I’d seen photographs in a newspaper review of smudgy dark black-and-white charcoal drawings reminiscent of old-school figurative art like German expressionism, and feeling more at home with clean lines, colour and abstract compositions, I arrived with narrow pre-conceptions. These evaporated in the hypnotic ether as soon as I stepped into the first room, after which I became increasingly seduced by the magical effect of his shimmering drawings.

Kentridge’s work is very political. Drawing on his experience of growing up in apartheid South Africa, he wants to remind us of the injustice and brutality that human beings are capable of - and how we often erase things from memory – which he does by literally erasing lines from his drawings, right in front of our eyes, so that what was there one instant, disappears the next behind a shadowy blur, making us question what we think we know. Sometimes he appears inside the frame so you get a portrait of the artist walking and deep in thought. Corruption and the abuse of power are recurring themes in his mixed media performance pieces, his sculpture and words. At the same time he manages to lighten the mood, injecting pieces with satire and a sense of the absurd (very funny and a welcome relief from the doom) like the self-deprecating films in which he stars with himself, as well as the surreal and imaginative observations about humanity and life throughout. He is so prolific and so talented that I felt totally humbled and in awe, wishfully wondering if by being immersed for a few hours in his world some of his genius might just rub off on me. I don’t really have the words to do it justice, but I’m telling friends to miss the RA exhibition at their peril. Here, in the gigantic halls of the Royal Academy, is a wonderful manifestation of the potential art has to elevate the soul. I left feeling pleasantly stunned, enlightened and glad to be alive.