North Pole Map

The tapestry belongs to a series developed by William Kentridge in 2001. The subjects are borrowed from the "Puppet Drawings" (2000), where the shapes of shadows, made from torn sheets of paper, are applied to reproductions of nineteenth century geographical maps. These collages are photographed and resized for the production of the tapestries. In "North Pole Map", two large, dark shapes stand out against an old map of the North Pole. They are fantastical and metamorphic figures involved in an exodus: the artist evokes the great journey of life, but also the migrations of peoples past and present. The act of drawing on old books and incorporating graphic signs in the images renders tangible the sensation of images and thoughts emerging from the past, from a background that is both individual and collective.