Méliès' moon is a late 19th century colonial moon ... “my lunar landscape is just outside Johannesburg”

Abstract

Although the contemporary South-African artist William Kentridge has practised his creativity in many domains (as observer, activist, artist, storyteller and thinking director) in a wide range of media (including land art, sculpture, etchings, video installations, shadow plays, stage, theatre and opera productions), it is chiefly his large charcoal drawings in process (drawings for animation) and his unique, short, handmade, animated films and their projection that have given him international fame and added to his dynamic stature. The question is how technological media underwent a process of retrospective alienation in William Kentridge’s animation processes. The development of Kentridge’s large wall drawings to drawings for animation and projection is discussed, while mark making, montage and editing within the greater filmic whole are emphasised. Although Kentridge uses Méliès’ idea of a trip to the moon and a moon landing, he transfers the voyage to the moon and the lunar landscape to the Highveld landscape that is known to him.