Sandton exhibition a chance to walk in Madiba’s shoes

For the next five months, Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton will host a world-class exhibition in honour of Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life.

It opened this week to mark the 30th anniversary of Mandela’s release from Robben Island. For the first time, South Africans and foreign tourists will have an opportunity to experience his journey.

Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

The collections of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Richmark Holdings chronicles a century from Madiba’s birth, exploring the personal and public life of one of the most influential men in modern history.

A selection of rare personal artefacts, film footage and documents, combined with new audio-visual pieces, form the heart of the exhibition.

Explaining how difficult it was to find images of Mandela from the 20th century in which he was born, foundation archive and research director Razia Saleh said: “It was challenging to find objects and artefacts from Mandela’s early life. Because he grew up in a rural setting in the 20th century, we could not find much.

“The earliest photo was taken in 1938 in Hill Town in the Eastern Cape.

“There is a mimic of the traditional cloak on display which he wore to a court proceeding in 1962.

“The cells are a representation of his imprisonment on Robben Island.”

Also on display is the Methodist Church membership card Mandela carried with him wherever he went.

sonrin@citizen.co.za

Video by : Pfarelo Munonoka

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.