In late 2023, Mary Sibande approached the David Krut Workshop (DKW) with an exciting opportunity to collaborate as part of the Occupy the Gallery mentorship programme. As described by DKW printmaker Sbongiseni Khulu:
Khulu took on the role of collaborator for the three artists working with us through this programme, which began with Lusanda Ndita coming into the workshop in November 2023 to explore various printmaking mediums, followed by Hoek Swaratlhe in early 2024. In April of 2024, Sibande actively began her collaboration with DKW, working with Khulu on a woodblock print approximately 105 x 76cm in size. In earlier discussions, Khulu and Sibande identified relief as the one medium that the artist hadn’t fully explored yet, and so they selected that as the starting point of their collaboration.
In its production and repetitive reproduction, Mary drew and collaged various versions of her famed character “Sophie”. Once the image had come into its key components it was then transferred onto the wood and carved by hand for a total of 7 weeks. Throughout the process, Khulu was careful to translate each carved mark exactly as it was in the final such that her hand was not lost in the collaboration. Sibande and Khulu would go on to explore printing onto various multicolored pieces of paper for collage, as well as mixing oil-based monotype layers with woodcut to highlight aspects of the character. In true Sibande fashion the colour combinations used in all of the explorations involved different shades of the colour blue.
In this exploration of Sophie, Sibande draws inspiration from On Kawara’s postcard series from I GOT UP (1968 – 1979). In the series, Kawara sent daily postcards to friends, colleagues and institutions, each stamped with the day, the artist’s location and the phrase “I GOT UP” followed by the exact time that the artist got out of bed that morning. In a similar fashion, Sophie has now begun to send images back to us, or as the artist, Mary Sibande, puts it.
“It’s been ten long years since Sophie made her escape into self-imposed exile. Now, she is sending images of leisure and letters back to us, documenting her journey. These images depict her engaging in leisurely activities such as playing tennis, playing golf, looking at a luxury fragrance and sitting on a swing—activities that were once forbidden to her.”
Sophie is exploring what was historically denied to her. She is unconstrainedly exploring her dreams and pushing the boundaries of what Black people can and cannot do according to institutions. She revels in her own freedom and self-expression. She is pursuing leisure and in doing so, she is challenging and redefining the boundaries set by oppressive systems.
Mary Sibande is a contemporary South African artist working across a variety of media, including sculpture, photography and printmaking. Her work primarily explores how to reclaim the black female body in post-colonial and post-apartheid South Africa. Her work often portrays the artists alter-ego “Sophie”, a dreamer exploring worlds previously denied to her. She is many things, a domestic worker, a ruler, a general, a pope and more. Sophie is based upon Sibande herself, as well as the women in Sibande’s family, however, she is also a symbolic figure addressing many topics that remain relevant today, including blackness, femininity, labour and post-coloniality.
