projects
October 2023
The Great Yes, The Great No
William Kentridge
In 2024 in Aix-en-Provence, France, William Kentridge will be presenting a new theatrical production titled The Great Yes, The Great No. The production follows a boat trip from Marseille to Martinique – a small island that was an important site for many well-known figures including Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, André Breton and Josephine Baker. Using the potential of the boat as a metaphor for power, trade and migration, the production will draw on many of the processes and methodologies that have become central to Kentridge’s work.
Jillian Ross has been working closely with Kentridge since February 2023 to develop a new print series in response to this stage production.
The prints are jungle-like scenes, which began as ink-drawings and collages from one of the many backdrops of The Great Yes, The Great No, and are layered with insightful texts that relate to many of the production’s themes. One of the drawings, There Were No Books, was photographed and made into photogravure and photopolymer printing plates. These plates were used as a base on which to develop a series of prints.
COVER IMAGE, William Kentridge, in his studio in Johannesburg, working on a drawing, There Were No Books, that forms part of The Great Yes, The Great No. This mixed media artwork was later photographed and made into photogravure plates at the University of Alberta. These photogravure plates form the basis on which these prints are made. The prints are available in a large and medium formats.
William Kentridge
There Were No Books,
2023
Paint, India Ink, Charcoal,
Coloured Pencil and Collage on paper.
152cm x 178cm
These print projects, created in collaboration between Ross and Kentridge, involve multiple studios and skilled technicians to develop from beginning to end. This project started at
UCal, Berkeley, moved onto the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada), found its way to JRP in Saskatoon, Canada, Cone Editions in Vermont, and then onto DKW in Johannesburg, South Africa, all the while working with printmakers with the relevant skill sets to help develop the project into being.
For the final stage of the project JRP will install their working print studio in the Connect Gallery at Remai Modern. A visiting audience will witness the creation, process and editioning of these yet unpublished prints through a collaboration between the Kentridge Studio, Jillian Ross Print, the University of Alberta, the David Krut Workshop and Remai Modern. Additionally, the studio-gallery presentation, Live Editions, will showcase prints from JRP's last three years of collaborations between Ross and Kentridge. With over 40 prints on exhibition in various states of completion, Live Editions highlights a print’s evolution from the initial 'first pull' to its 'final state'.
These prints, based on imagery of a gardenscape from The Great Yes, The Great No are being made from a combination of photogravure and photopolymer plates, combined with drypoint and hand painted chine collé by the artist. The large scale prints are pinned and adhered on 12 overlapping sheets of Hahnemühle, Natural White, 300gsm. Chine collé papers include encyclopedia paper from the 1900's, Kitakata, Tosa Washi, Gampi and Nishinouchi Seiki B Nakaban.
Publisher
Jillian Ross Print, Saskatoon, Canada
Collaborating Printer
Jillian Ross
Photogravure
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Steven Dixon, Luke Johnson
Photopolymer
Cone Editions, Vermont, USA
Nathanael Kooperkamp
Editioning and image development
Jillian Ross Print
David Krut Workshop
Editioning printers
Jillian Ross, Sbongiseni Khulu
Kim-Lee Loggenberg-Tim
Roxy Kaczmarek
Sarah Judge and
Jesse Shepstone.
DKW printers, Jillian Ross and William Kentridge working on the large scale print at Kentridges studio at Arts on Main in Johannesburg.
Studio walk through of the David Krut Workshop into the Kentridge Studio during the print development.
- October 2023,
This project is supported by Creative Saskatchewan's
Craft and Visual Arts Production Grant Program