The Centre for the Less Good Idea kicks off its 2024 programming with a HOW | Showing the Making by Naomi van Niekerk.
Van Niekerk is a South African visual artist, filmmaker and theatre director currently based in Lille, France. Central to her practice is the visual interpretation of poetic and narrative texts by South African authors, which she transcribes through film, performance and printmaking.
This desire to give material form to textual narratives drew her to sand animation, and between 2015 and 2017 she directed, animated and independently produced several short films.
In this HOW, Van Niekerk provides insight into her technique of stop-motion animation using an image drawn with sand on a light table, and speaks to her process of working with poetic and narrative texts.
She also shares her most recent award-winning sand animation film, Box Cutters, a co-production by France, the Netherlands and South Africa, based on a poem by renowned South African author Ronelda Kamfer.
In addition to Box Cutters, This HOW will see a screening of Van Niekerk’s melancholic poetry film My Mom’s Bonkers and will also see the artist demonstrate her newest technique of scratching on 35mm film.
