Sharjah Art Foundation is delighted to present A Shadow of a Shadow, a comprehensive survey of 17 performances by William Kentridge spanning from the late 1980s to the present. Kentridge’s first major solo exhibition in the Middle East showcases a wide range of his work, from his interpretations of King Ubu—the outrageous protagonist from Alfred Jarry’s play Ubu Roi [King Ubu] (1896)—to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute (1791) alongside Kentridge’s original production The Head and the Load (2018) about Africa and Africans during World War I. Visitors will encounter a variety of objects and artworks produced for the development and presentation of Kentridge’s performance projects, including drawings, stage backdrops, animations, puppets, props, costumes and installations inspired by theatrical illusions.  

The exhibition title is inspired by a play by the thirteenth-century playwright and puppeteer Muhammad  Ibn Daniyal, who fled Iraq during the Mongol invasions. Prompted by the sense that the world was ending, his shadow plays satirised authorities and exposed societal corruption, tropes that would appear again centuries later in Jarry’s Ubu Roi and Kentridge’s adaptation. While nodding to Kentridge’s predilection for shadow plays and puppet theatre, A Shadow of a Shadow also pays homage to his incisive political rebuke of authoritarianism through absurdist satire and theatricality. Together, the works selected for this exhibition speak to the artist’s ongoing critique of social constructs, power structures and the colonial project’s metamorphic manifestations. 

A master draughtsman, illustrator, filmmaker and sculptor, Kentridge is also a prolific theatre-maker who has collaborated with local theatre groups and world-renowned opera houses for more than four decades. His practice encompasses theatrical, musical and operatic projects with visual components that appear and reappear in different articulations. Centring around the human condition, his multifaceted imagery is often interwoven with the social, political and economic realities of South Africa. 

Running from 28 September to 8 December 2024, this exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Senior Curator and Director of the Performance Department, with May Alqaydi, Assistant Curator, and Khalid Mohammed, Curatorial Assistant, Sharjah Art Foundation.

About William Kentridge

William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg) combines drawing, writing, film, performance, music, theatre and collaborative practices to create artworks that are grounded in politics, science, literature and history but still maintain a space for contradiction and uncertainty. In 2016, he founded the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg.
 

His work has been shown at MoMA, New York; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Reina Sofia, Madrid; and Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, among others. Kentridge has also participated in documenta, Kassel (1997, 2002, 2012), and the Venice Biennale (1993, 1999, 2005, 2013 and 2015). 
 

Kentridge has received the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, London (2023); Praemium Imperiale in painting, Tokyo (2019); Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize (2018); and Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (2012). His artworks can be found in numerous collections, including Art Gallery of Western Australia; Art Institute of Chicago; Sharjah Art Foundation; MoMA, New York; MAXXI Rome; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; and Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi.

About Sharjah Art Foundation

Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.

Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation’s deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation’s support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world.

Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. Hoor Al Qasimi serves as President and Director. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.

About Sharjah

Sharjah is the third largest of the seven United Arab Emirates and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and has been designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital’ for the year 2019.

Media contact

Sharjah Art Foundation, Alyazeyah Al Marri 

alyazeyah@sharjahart.org 

+971 (0)6 5444113