The bronze Nelson Mandela statue in Sandton, Johannesburg, was “redressed” in a giant shirt on Saturday by a group of artists.
The artists — from South Africa and Africa — were attending a 10-day workshop called Public Art Survivor funded by the Visual Arts Network of South Africa.
The workshop provided training for would-be public art managers, who submitted proposals for projects that would have to be realised before the end of the workshop on February 28.
In their research, the group spoke to children who said they did not recognise the sculpture and thought Mandela was dressed in chocolate.
The group, who branded themselves as the OUI SI Creative Collaboration, believe that by “redressing” the famous bronze, they would make it more accessible to viewers.
In their proposal, the group said that their work would make the bronze more recognisable to children and breathe new life into it.
While they were installing it early on Saturday, one passerby exclaimed: ‘Now it looks like him.”
AAW! Art Project Management along with the Trinity Session and Joubert Park Public Project ran the workshop, with the purpose of developing capacity in the public art sector.
AAW! CEO, Lesley Perkes, said: ‘We were pleased to assist the group to manage their project so that the shirt went up safely at 6.30am this [Saturday] morning. It’s been a real learning curve for the participants on this workshop and for us. We think it is remarkable that all the stakeholders involved in Sandton Central, especially the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Nelson Mandela Square’s management and our client, the Sandton Central Management District, have got behind this idea and helped us to make it happen within the space of 24 hours. Now we are going to sleep.”