Atlas Confession, 2002
Published for Documenta 11
Collage of torn black Canson paper pieces, on pages from a Stielers Hand-Atlas book (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1906), with Chine-collé to BFK Rives paper, 50 x 66 cm. Edition of 45 (+ X A.P. with collages on different maps), signed and numbered.
For this edition, William Kentridge combined his signature stencil figures with a background of printed text, layering gesture and history into a single visual field. Set against the ordered structure of a vintage dictionary page, the dynamic, almost animated figures create a dialogue between fixed knowledge and the fluidity of human experience. As in much of Kentridge’s work, memory, movement, and historical narrative intertwine in a scene that feels simultaneously personal and universal.
