In May, a team of South African designers came up with an idea to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela by digitally collecting 95 originally designed posters from around the world.
Using social media platforms such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, the team amassed more than 700 poster submissions from over 70 countries around the world.
The project has since gone viral and the team rapidly expanded to include 12 independent volunteers now known as the Mandela Poster Project Collective.
According to Mohammed Jogie, one of the project co-founders, the initiative was open to all, and submitters agreed to donate their designs without charge to the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust. "All participants agreed to allow the trust to exhibit and produce limited copies as part of its fundraising programme to establish Africa's third dedicated children's hospital in Johannesburg, which is Madiba's final legacy wish," says Jogie.
Ninety-five posters from 37countries - ranging from US designer Bibi Seck's poster showing Mandela as a man of united colours, to South African Alan Grobler's woodcut-inspired design showing the many faces of the man - were selected based on narrative relevance, to form part of the Mandela Poster Project 95 Collection (representing 95 years of Mandela's life).
Jacques Lange, one of the initiators of the project, adds that the objective was to compile a curated collection rather than running a competition. "This means there are no winners and that the collection focuses not just on aesthetics, but rather on rich narrative representations from around the world," he says.
He adds that the submissions offered many different narratives and interpretations that, in some cases, are a clear representation of the history and social structure of their countries of origin. "Countries such as Poland, Cuba and Mexico had legacies where posters were used in the past to challenge political structures," he says.
The 95 Collection first went on public display on Mandela Day, 18 July, at the University of Pretoria, according to Lange, and received a great deal of media attention from around the world.
By the end of December, he adds, the 95 Collection will have been exhibited at 12 venues in SA as well as in Montreal and London. The travelling schedule for 2014 is currently being finalised and will possibly include exhibitions in Brazil, Egypt, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the US and Spain.
Icograda (the International Council of Communication Design) has endorsed the project as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, and Hewlett-Packard came on board as production sponsor of three archival-quality sets of the 95 Collection, of which one set is used for exhibition purposes.
The 95 Collection can be viewed at www.mandelaposterproject.org.
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