Categories

ENJOY; ISSUE; INTERESTING PLACES; INTERIORS; JOYDAY; WALLISM:THE SEMIOTICS OF WALLS; STREET FINDS; SHIFT HOW WE SEE; FASHION; ART; COLOUR

22 April 2017

Wallism_Peeling back time


‘Triumphs and Laments’ is comprised of a 550 meter-long frieze along the urban waterway of the River Tiber in Rome.

It is the South African artist, William Kentridge’s largest public work to date.
The figures, which are up to 12m high,
chart the 
city’s historic victories and defeats, ranging from 
Romulus and Remus to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s murder outside Rome in 1975.

The dark silhouettes were created from the layers of accumulated grime on the naturally pale 
travertine embankment wall by
applying high-pressure water jets to giant plastic stencils, 
a technique better known to street art as “reverse graffiti”. 

It will, sadly, fade away as grim returns.