What might we expect to learn about a famous person from visiting a place named after them? Is naming an urban place simply an act of commemoration, or should such locations be further enhanced through educational resources that enhance symbolic representations? Inspired by initial discussions with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa, the Memorialising Mandela in the Metropolis project highlights the synthesis of cultural heritage and graphic form through a concentration on places named after Nelson Mandela.
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Events
Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage, Workshop, 2 March 2023, Johannesburg, South Africa
Invitation to heritage practitioners (©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
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Read more about Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage workshop in the Information Pack below
Download Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage Information Pack as PDF →
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Zandile Miyeka presents the Nelson Mandela Foundation Archive (Photography: ©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
I have learned a lot about place naming, graphic heritage, including many other subjects […] and came to the realisation that archives and graphic heritage are linked.
Zandile Miyeka, Archivist: Metadata and Archiving, Nelson Mandela Foundation
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Ilsé Assman in conversation with Nkululeko Mthembu at the workshop. (Photography: ©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
Graphic heritage has opened a new world to me – fascinating!
Ilsé Assmann, Apricity Consulting, Johannesburg
Graphic heritage has challenged the delivery of some of these institutions.
Nkululeko Mthembu, Director, Pista Ventures, Cape Town
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Delegates gathered at Nelson Mandela Foundation to explore graphic heritage from several perspectives that included toponymy, graphic images, digital design, cultural heritage, place-making, archival practice, intellectual property, and copyright. (Photography: ©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
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Read about the research
Journal paper
Harland, R.G., Burger, Y., Barnes, A. and Burger, E. (2022) “Memorialising Madiba in South Africa: The role of graphic heritage and toponymy in two contrasting urban places”, The Journal of Public Space, 7(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v7i1.1571. (In press)
Commemorations of Nelson Mandela in Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa (Photography: ©Everardt Burger and Yolandi Burger 2022)
Nelson Mandela Park, Mamelodi, Pretoria, South Africa (Photography: ©Fidel Mosupye of Supreme Images 2021)
Conference paper proceedings
Harland, R.G., Burger, Y., & Burger, E.A. (2022) ‘Public places in Madiba’s memory: Using archival resources for graphic heritage interventions’. In Representing pasts–visioning futures – Architecture Media Politics Society Conference 2021, Virtual, 1–3 December 2022.
Harland, R.G., Barnes, A., & Burger, Y. (2021) ‘The absence of graphic representations of Madiba in Nelson Mandela Park, Mamelodi, South Africa’. In With Design – 9th International Congress of International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2021, Hong Kong, 5–9 December. DOI: tbc (In press, soon to be published by Springer)
de Menezes Migliari, M., & Harland, R.G. (2021) ‘Making Praça Nelson Mandela: Morphological change and graphic interventions to define a new square in the Botafogo district of Rio de Janeiro.’ In With Design – 9th International Congress of International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2021, Hong Kong, 5–9 December. DOI: tbc (In press, soon to be published by Springer)
Commemorative plaque in Nelson Mandela Park, Leicester, England. (Photograph: ©Robert Harland 2021)
The research extends the Newton Fund Repositioning Graphic Heritage project, which established how town and cityscapes are dense in graphic heritage, often triggering diverse memories and meanings in as many forms as there are people.