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I’m ashamed to admit I only really became aware of William Kentridge last summer when I saw posters for his film, Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot, all over Venice. Though his name was familiar, I was less acquainted with his work. I certainly didn’t know he was widely acknowledged as South Africa’s greatest living artist. I just loved the drawing of the silver moka pot. A replica of the same pot in which I make my daily coffee, Kentridge’s self-portrait quickly captured my heart.
Kentridge’s Venice exhibition was the precursor to a highly productive period: he stages two exhibitions this year. The first, A Natural History of the Studio, will open at Hauser & Wirth’s New York gallery; the second, The Pull of Gravity, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Kentridge’s creative interests are far-reaching and wide-ranging: he’s also working on a production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo that will play at Glyndebourne in 2026. The works in progress are all in evidence throughout his home and studio in northern Johannesburg, where Monica Mark, the FT’s Southern Africa bureau chief, met him for our cover interview. Kentridge is prodigious in his output: now 70, he still harbours a compulsion to create. As he tells Monica over tea and mango: “The harder part to being an artist is that you need to have a gap, you need to have a lack. If you’re satisfied – if you’re fine as yourself – then you can just get on with your life.”
Grace Wales Bonner is also protean in her output: the fashion designer founded her namesake brand 11 years ago and has brought into it a world of interests, including poetry, art curation, exhibitions and musical events. I interviewed Wales Bonner in 2016, shortly after she had been awarded the LVMH prize. Then only 25, she possessed a rare assuredness and purpose. And, a decade later, she continues to occupy a rare position, interpreting luxury in considered, almost academic collections that have reclaimed Black identity while also harnessing contemporary ideas that feel both relevant and fresh. Much of her success has come via her ongoing relationship with Adidas, the sports brand whose fortunes have been revitalised in part thanks to collaborations such as hers. Did Grace Wales Bonner save Adidas with her take on the Samba? She would never take the credit, but she certainly set it on the right path.
Is Kirsty Wark a national treasure? The broadcaster, writer and long-serving Newsnight presenter definitely gets my vote. She’s unsnobbish, curious, a champion of talent, an ambassador for fashion and, best of all, a big fan of this magazine. This week she offers us a guide to Glasgow, a city she has known ever since she visited it as a little girl. I love her writing, which blends fond nostalgia for its institutions with an affable enthusiasm for its inevitable change.
Lastly, would you consider making a roti canai? The flaky, fluffy flatbread, served as street food in Malaysia, is best exemplified in the UK by Sugen Gopal, better known as the Roti King. I took one look at his comprehensive
10‑ (or was it 13?) point guide, with its calls for slapping, resting and clapping the rotis into existence, and decided that this was one skill I could gladly live without. Most experts agree that the roti making is “too hard” for even the most accomplished bakers, but our food writer Ajesh Patalay has a crack at it nonetheless. The results may have looked disastrous – but he gets first prize for effort. Plus, he assures us, when dipped in curry, they tasted “great”.
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