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At David Krut Workshop, Sbongiseni Khulu took on the role of collaborator with Mary Sibande, Hoek Swaratlhe and Lusanda Ndita. Through a series of discussions Khulu and Sibande isolated relief as the one medium she hadn’t fully explored yet.
In April of 2024, Sibande actively began her collaboration with DKW, working with Khulu on a woodblock print approx. 105 x 76 cm in size. Ashwood was chosen for its high durability. 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. That said, Khulu made it a point to translate each carved mark exactly as it was in the final image such that her hand was not lost in the collaboration, which hadn’t met its conclusion yet. 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.
The final editioned woodblock print was titled “Leisurely Reading: Sophie with her Newspaper” and was showcased in the exhibition “Reclaiming Quatres” in October 2024 at David Krut Projects. Following Reclaiming Quarters Sibande’s work was selected to be included in the David Krut Projects, New York’s initiative titled South African Artist in New York.