Porter Series: Man with Bed on Back
2000
A monumental figure strains under the weight of a bed strapped to his back, rendered in the rich, tactile textures of mohair and silk embroidery that are characteristic of Kentridge's collaboration with the Stephens Tapestry Studio. The work draws on Kentridge's ongoing exploration of labor, burden, and the colonial legacy of South Africa, evoking the anonymous porters and workers whose physical toil has long been rendered invisible by history. The tapestry medium transforms his signature charcoal-like aesthetic into a luminous, woven surface, bridging the handcrafted and the political.
- Medium
- mohair, silk and embroidered tapestry
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
New Now
February 28, 2017
More by William Kentridge
Artists in conversation
Marlene Dumas
South African · b. 1953
Dumas shares Kentridge's South African perspective and expressionist figuration, rendering human bodies in ways that confront colonial history and social marginalization with raw emotional intensity and muted tonal palettes.
Kara Walker
American · b. 1969
Walker similarly uses monumental figurative imagery to expose the brutal labor histories of colonialism and racial oppression, making anonymous workers and subjugated bodies central to a powerful social commentary rendered in stark, graphic terms.
El Anatsui
Ghanaian · b. 1944
Anatsui works in textile adjacent materials at monumental scale to address African colonial labor histories and the weight of historical exploitation, transforming humble materials into richly textured surfaces that carry profound social and political meaning.
Start the Discussion
Request access to join the discussion