Amtrak – in partnership with Moynihan Train Hall and Empire State Development – welcome a new multi-panel video animation from South African artist William Kentridge entitled We Will Make Shoes from the Sky. As part of the latest installation for Art at Amtrak, the cast of characters in each video are based on real people from various moments in history, including World War II and the Negritude movement of African heritage. Tributes to iconic Black leaders such as James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, Aimé and Suzanne Césaire and more are shown facing the main waiting area of Moynihan Train Hall and confront the bustle of people moving below.
The portrayed characters are also the cast of Kentridge’s upcoming theatrical production The Great Yes, The Great No. Developed for the Luma Foundation, the show will debut in Arles, France in 2024 in association with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. For travelers passing through Moynihan Train Hall, We Will Make Shoes from the Sky provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on iconic leaders who embarked on their own journeys of freedom and individuality.
Kentridge was born in 1955 in Johannesburg, South Africa where he currently lives and works. Often drawing from socio-political conditions in post-apartheid South Africa, Kentridge’s work takes on a form that is expressionist in nature. Recent major exhibitions of his work have been shown at MFA Houston, Texas (2023); The Broad Museum, Los Angeles (2022); the Royal Academy, London (2022); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2019). Kentridge has participated in Documenta (2012, 2002, 1997) as well as the Venice Biennale (2015, 2005, 1999 and 1993).
More information about Art at Amtrak can be found here.
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