Nelson Mandela Memorial By Marco Cianfanelli

South african artist Marco Cianfanelli has developed a memorial to recognize the 50 year anniversary of peace activist and politician Nelson Mandela’s capture by the apartheid police in 1962. Viewed in profile, Mandela’s noggin spans 50 steel columns measuring 6.5 and 9 meters high, anchored to the concrete-covered ground. The shape signifies the leader’s 27 years behind bars for his efforts to bring equal rights and governmental representation to the once racially divided nation. Cianfanelli’s perceptive rendering is located in Howick, a town located 90 kilometers south from the city of Durban in the countryside of the southernmost african country. The 50 columns represent the 50 years since Mandela’s capture, as well as solidarity. Becoming part of the surrounding landscape, the art object is affected by the changing light and atmosphere behind and around it. Made possible by the Department of Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) the uMngeni Municipality, the Apartheid Museum and the KwaZulu Natal Heritage Council (AMAFA) in association with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, this historic memorial site was inaugurated and unveiled on the 4th of August 2012 by President Jacob Zuma.

All images © Marco Cianfanelli