felix in exile

Previously, we talked about a film called “Felix in Exile” that was created by William Kentridge. I was interested in knowing more about the context of the film. It was created in 1993 and is the 5th film in a series called Drawings for Protection which Kentridge started in 1989.

The film is about a time in South Africa called “The Apartheid” which meant “apartness” in Afrikaans. It was a time of segregation and discrimination against the Black South Africans. It began as early as 1709 when “pass laws” were enacted, meaning Blacks were required to carry around a type of passport in order to move around South Africa or they’d face consequences. Things escalated in 1948 when the segregation began due to the National Party ruling South Africa in favor of white supremacy.

Later, the African National Congress (ANC) started the Defiance Campaign organizing boycotts of white owned businesses, strikes, and non-violent protests. In 1960, which was the same year as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the police killed 69 of the peaceful protesters. In the same year, Nelson Mandela organized a smaller group within the ANC that would feature protesters armed with weapons. A year later in 1961, Mandela was arrested for treason and sentenced to life in prison.

By the end of the 1980s, White South Africans were not happy at the resistance they were facing, and the government was being pushed to bring an end to the Apartheid’s discrimination. In 1989, P.W. Botha stepped down as president of South Africa and the ban over the ANC and other groups was dissolved. F.W. de Klerk became the new president in 1990 and had Nelson Mandela released from prison. Later Mandela became president of South Africa in 1997 and enacted a new constitution that did not include discrimination.

Felix in Exile, features an “alter ego” of William Kentridge who is named Felix Teitlebaum (“Felix In Exile”). Felix is exiled in a hotel room where he is studying the maps of a Black woman named Nandi. She created maps of the landscape of the East Rand, a town near Johannesburg. Felix stays locked away in his room while the violence occurs outside in South Africa. The more Felix watches the violence, the more the pieces of paper cover up the fallen bodies.

The Guggenheim.org had an interesting view of this saying, the “figures and structures are subsumed into the landscape… [are] allegories for how the land can bear the scars of crimes against humanity” (“Felix In Exile”). I related this to a poem I read by Carl Sandburg called The Grass. This poem speaks of wars and bodies falling, and how the grass “cover[s] all” of our violent mistakes. The grass grows over everything and in a few years, we say, “what place is this?”, forgetting the terrible things that happened there (Sandburg).

I appreciate a film like Felix in Exile for representing those Black South Africans who suffered and for bringing my attention to an event that I had never even heard of. Time really does cause us to forget important things such as the Apartheid, and it’s crucial that we continue to create and remember works that help remind us of the past so that we don’t repeat it.

Sydney McPherson

Sources:

Blakemore, Erin. “The Harsh Reality Of Life Under Apartheid In South Africa”. History, 2019, https://history.com/news/apartheid-policies-photos-nelson-mandela.

“Felix In Exile”. Guggenheim, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/9422.

Sandburg, Carl. “Grass By Carl Sandburg”. Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45034/grass-56d2245e2201c.