Sam Kentridge (b. 1992) is a Johannesburg based artist who is obsessed with words – some of his current favourites being “and”, “although”, and “pebble”. He is interested in the seductive phrase, the liberatory phrase, the quietly defiant phrase. Working with text and images discovered in second hand book stores, Kentridge is fascinated by the authoritative tone in out-of-date pedagogical texts, and the creative possibilities to be found in subverting this tone by cutting and reshaping that pedagogy into poetry – searching for the messy emotional core hidden just beneath the surface of what pretends to be dry, objective prose. Themes include loneliness, hope, middle class ennui, and the pain of biting the inside of your cheek so that the inside of your cheek becomes slightly swollen and then you bite that same spot only moments later and now your ham and cheese sandwich tastes of blood.