Special Projects | marigold

MARIGOLD BEADWORK

IN RESPONSE TO THE WORK

OF WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

Five new Marigold designs have emerged in response to the work of South African artist William Kentridge. Developed for Norval Foundation, Cape Town, they mark the major Kentridge exhibition Why Should I Hesitate: Sculpture, August 2019 — March 2020.

Graphic text-based artworks like HOC, XA, and WAIT, WAIT were fertile sources for translation into the grid-like structure of loomed beadwork. The cover design of the book The Refusal of Time references a Russian Constructivist aesthetic often found in Kentridge’s work and this striking cover informed two of the five designs.

The five new designs are overarching types within which the necklaces produced are each unique variations. Made in creative response to Kentridge’s visual language rather than as illustrations of specific works, the connections and associations cohere and hover in multiple ways.

Nose 22

2009

Sugarlift aquatint, drypoint and engraving

19.9 x 14.8 cm

Nose 28

2009

Sugarlift aquatint, drypoint and engraving

24.8 x 19.8 cm

Blue Rubrics (WAIT, WAIT)

2018

Lapis Lazuli pigment on found thesaurus pages

44 x 53 cm

Book cover for The Refusal of Time

Published 2012

Editions Xavier Barral

2016 FNB JOBURG ARTFAIR

Now known among the group as the ‘Serge’ design is a necklace first made in response to the work of Serge-Alain Nitegeka, the Burundian-born artist, trained and based in South Africa. Nitegeka was featured at the 2016 FNB JoburgArtFair and Marigold was participating in this fair too.

So it seemed apt to produce something special for this event. The sleek graphic qualities of Nitegeka’s work enabled a successful translation into beadwork.

2014 FASSLER CATWALK

The iconic South African fashion designer Marianne Fassler has been an early recogniser of Marigold’s work. As she put it, ‘craft is the new luxury’, and seeing shared synergies with her own Leopard Frock designs, she took Marigolds onto her catwalk in 2014 for the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week where they acquired a new life: Marigolds flying behind the lanky models, twisting in front of them, loosely, casually thrown over their shoulders, worn long and below the hemline, amassed in vibrant and unexpected combinations. We thank her for her creative sisterhood on this journey. Simon Deiner photographed the show for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.