Leisurely sailing: Sophie with her binoculars, 2025

In late 2023, the David Krut Workshop (DKW) was approached to collaborate as part of The Occupying the Gallery mentorship programme, established by Mary Sibande and Lawrence Lemaoana. At David Krut Workshop, Sbongiseni Khulu took on the role of collaborator with Mary Sibande. Through a series of discussions Khulu and Sibande isolated relief as the medium to move forward with and actively began the woodcut collaboration in April of 2024. Ash wood 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 half the size of the first 2 woodcuts, carved by hand for a total of 7 weeks. Sibande loosely describes her collaboration as follows, “David Krut Projects and I are creating ‘Wish You Were Here’ postcards through the art of woodcut and linocut printing”. 

Sophie in her period of leisure
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…