|
The pursuit of public
art to beautify Joburg carries on, with an artwork by the world-renowned William
Kentridge and Gerhard Marx set for the inner city.
NEW YORK has its 46m tall Statue of Liberty;
and now Joburg is soon to get its own Statue of Liberty, in the form of a 10m
tall woman walking with a burning brazier on her head.
The Firewalker is a joint creation of William Kentridge and Gerhard Marx
The artwork, entitled The Firewalker, is
the joint creation of world-renowned Joburg artist William Kentridge and
Gerhard Marx, and is expected to be installed at the southern end of Queen Elizabeth
Bridge in the CBD at the
end of the June.
"The image of a woman carrying light or
fire on her head does, of course, evoke the image of the Statue of Liberty. But
she is a very particular Statue of Liberty - Johannesburg's Statue of Liberty -
which carries with it, at every point, either the history or the threat of its
own collapse," say the artists in a statement.
"This image is typical of the street
culture of Johannesburg
and very particular to the site on which the work will be installed," they
explain. "These entrepreneurs sell roasted ‘mielies' and also ‘smileys' [roasted
sheep's heads] to pedestrians, and are often seen carrying their burning
braziers on their heads as they find places from which to sell their food."
These food sellers operate on the site
where the artwork is to be installed - a triangle of open land alongside the
Metro Mall taxi rank.
"In this sense the work is a monument to
the everyday, the overlooked, and to the activities that have taken place on
that site for so many years."
The Firewalker is almost double the height
of another striking public artwork - Clive van den Berg's 5,5m Eland, at the
top of Jan Smuts Avenue
in Braamfontein.
Keen to get a Kentridge
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has been keen for some time to get a
Kentridge work as a public artwork in the city, says artist Marcus
Neustetter, the director of the Trinity Session, the commissioning agent for
many of the public artworks that have gone up around the city.
Kentridge, it seems, has also been keen to do an
artwork for the city. He is working with Marx at the moment on other projects,
and the idea for the Firewalker emerged from discussions between the two.
"It is quite exciting to do something in
the city I have been living in for the past 54 years, since my birth,"
Kentridge said.
He is not the only one who is excited about
the piece. The JDA chief executive, Lael Bethlehem,
said on 702 Talk Radio recently: "We are getting our very first
William Kentridge!"
Three layers of steel
The work consists of three layers of steel sheeting, welded together, depicting
the silhouetted image of the woman in black and white.
The work will be constructed "using laser
cut steel plates, evocative of torn bits of paper, that are arranged in a
seemingly abstract manner. If one approaches the work from the direction of the
bridge itself these loose steel fragments combine to create the cohesive image
of The Firewalker, this image then ‘explodes' into loose individual fragments
and abstraction as you move around it," say the artists.
"The moments of visual chaos and the
moments of visual cohesion are of equal importance within the work."
The sculpture, says Kentridge, evokes
memories of the 1990s when there were numerous women in the city using the
braziers for business and to warm themselves. "There were always women walking
around carrying the braziers on their heads," Kentridge said in late April,
when a tarpaulin model of the work was erected on the site.
"The sculpture will be in different layers
to make a coherent picture even from a long distance," he added.
Neustetter says that Kentridge and Marx are
devoting a lot of time to this work.
"When seen in a fractured state the work
becomes almost animated, at times it seems as if she strides ahead with great
certainty, at times she seems about to trip and fall and at times the work is
evocative of a riotous, or perhaps joyous mass of people, just before the work
flies into complete abstraction. But then, even within the abstraction there is
always a hint of figuration, the promise and suggestion of cohesion," say the
artists.
Triangle to be revamped
The triangle on which the work will be installed is at present used as a car
wash area for about 80 taxis. These will be relocated, and the area will be
landscaped, with new lighting, bollards and pathways constructed. A Bus Rapid Transit
station will also be positioned at its southern end.
Neustetter indicates that the sculpture
could be considered contentious. On the one hand it could be seen as an example
of "the ingenuity and innovation around survival", but on the other it
highlights what women have to go through to make ends meet.
"It stimulates the imagination - if we
carry fire on our heads, what else can we do?" he wondered. "But there is a
certain amount of disturbance - should someone have to do this?"
Related stories:
|
