Entries stream in for Mandela Poster Project

The Mandela Poster Project has reported over 180 entries from around the world, with five days still to go until the closing date of Friday 28 June 2013. As heartfelt prayers, messages of support and media attention proliferate, following the announcement of Madiba’s critical condition, the project takes on renewed significance.

Initiated by two South African designers, Mohammed Jogie and Jacques Lange, the project was initially conceived as an informal social media campaign in which to honour Nelson Mandela. Picked up by Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations), which represents designers from more than 45 countries, the project has evolved to become a travelling exhibition that forms part of Icograda’s 50th anniversary.

Following the closing date for submissions on Friday 28 June 2013, an exhibition of 95 posters will be curated to make up the travelling exhibition, which will travel to Brazil, Mexico, the US, China and other countries. The exhibition will be launched online on Madiba’s birthday on 18 July (god willing that the man himself sees his 95th birthday). Following the exhibition, the posters will be donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust in aid of establishing a dedicated children’s hospital in Johannesburg.

“In my eyes, this project gives palpable form to words expressed by Mr Mandela himself: ‘A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special’”, said Marilena Farruggia, managing director of Icograda. “Someone special inspired something special and it now resonates worldwide in the design community.”

The initiative is open to all and submitters need to agree to donate their poster(s) without charge to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, and allow the trust to exhibit and reproduce limited copies as part of its fundraising programme. The trust will respect the intellectual rights of all contributors/creators and will not sell copies of the artwork without written permission.

VISI thinks this is a wonderful outlet and platform for all of our creative readers to express their feelings about Madiba – we will certainly by making a contribution. View some of the submissions received already on the Google+ community or on Facebook.

Submissions can be mailed to [email protected] (up to 6MB) or send a transfer link via Dropbox or YouSendIt to the same address for larger files. For further information, contact Jacques at [email protected] or Mohammed at [email protected]. 

For some inspiration, watch this goosebumby video of Madiba dancing with Johnny Clegg.