A Striking Mandela Memorial

While there will no doubt be many memorials, statues, paintings, and art installations honoring nelson Mandela, this one — which I just stumbled upon yesterday — was constructed in 2012 on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s arrest in 1962.

This steel sculpture was erected on the exact spot where Mandela was arrested in the village of Howick. It looks deceptively simple, with fifty steel rods that symbolize the bars behind which he was held. But you just need move around it to find out what it really is meant to be.

South African artist Marco Cianfanelli’s sculpture  of Mandela’s profile spans 50 steel columns measuring between 21 and 29 feet tall, each one anchored to the concrete-covered ground. The shape and form of the sculpture represent Mandela’s 27 years behind bars for his efforts to bring equal rights and governmental representation to South Africa.

‘It represents the momentum gained in the struggle [since] Mandela’s capture. The 50 columns represent the 50 years since his capture, but they also suggest the idea of many making the whole; of solidarity. it points to an irony as the political act of Mandela’s incarceration cemented his status as an icon of struggle, which helped ferment the groundswell of resistance, solidarity and uprising, bringing about political change and democracy.'—Marco Cianfanelli

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RIP Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

"Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end."

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

"If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man."

"I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles."

"Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."

"A fundamental concern for others 
in our individual and community lives 
would go a long way in making the world 
the better place we so passionately dreamt of."

"Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do."

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

"Resentment is like drinking poison 

and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

"Lead from the back — 
and let others believe they are in front."

"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

"I hate race discrimination 
most intensely and in all its manifestations. 

I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days."