Behind The Fan, Among Barberton Daisies I, 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 and printed in 2 versions, Behind The Fan, Among Barberton Daisies I (in black and white), Behind The Fan, Among Barberton Daisies II (in black white and blue).   

Since the two versions are half the size of their predecessor woodcuts (Leisurely Reading: Sophie with her newspaper and Leisurely Sailing: Sophie with her Binoculars), Sibande saw them as two sides of the same coin, representing yin and yang, night and day. This idea is expressed through the visible woodgrain and the introduction of blue in the second version, a colour that appears black when cloaked by night and vibrant in the light of day. In both versions, the grain in the bottom of the dress is selectively filled in with wood filler to convey the difference in fluidity and dimensionality of the garment to the apron. 

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”.