Footnotes for the Panther

William Kentridge asked Denis Hirson to join him in a public conversation at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, in June 2010. It was such a rewarding experience that they decided to have further conversations, public and private, whenever the time and occasion seemed right. Nine engagements followed, in places as diverse as Paris, Johannesburg, and Amsterdam, allowing the two to explore at length the many issues and themes arising from Kentridges work. These conversations, in which a writer and an artist grapple with the complexities of making art, grow out of a friendship that is deeply entwined with the city where they both grew up and the country that is the wellspring of their work.