Certain figures like Nelson Mandela become so iconic that the image of their face alone can evoke entire sets of ideals. The renowned South African leader and philanthropist gained his reputation for bravery and honor through his work as an anti-apartheid revolutionary. The journey of his life led him through prison to international fame, and his biography is taught to schoolchildren around the world.
Mandela is best understood in his own words: “I knew that the oppressor was as enslaved as the oppressed, because he who deprives others of freedom is a prisoner of hatred, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not really free if he lacks the neighbor of his freedom, just as he does not it is if my dignity is taken away from me. The oppressor and the oppressed are both robbed of their humanity. I do not feel obliged either legally or morally to obey laws passed by a parliament that does not represent me. We decided to take up arms because the only alternative was to surrender and submit to slaver.”
Italian artist Jorit cites this quote as the inspiration behind his latest piece, “Mandela” which he recently completed in Florence, Italy for the Nelson Mandela Forum. The large-scale mural honors Mandela’s larger-than-life persona and commemorates the one hundred year anniversary of the activist’s birth. Completed with spray paint, the portrait depicts Mandela in Jorit’s hyperrealistic style, and includes the red lines signature to the artist’s work. Here, this touch emphasizes Mandela’s intense expression, which gazes at the viewer with a blend of defiant challenge and deep wisdom.
These red lines harken back to the pieces of Jorit’s personal history that allow this work to hold a special significance for the artist. Born and raised in Naples, the artist’s biography states that he began spray painting the walls of his town at age thirteen, before graduating with honors from The Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. In 2005, Jorit made his first journey to Africa, where he would eventually study and work alongside the international school of art known as “Tinga Tinga” in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. These experiences not only encouraged the artist to focus on creating realistic representations of the human face, but also to incorporate the red lines “which refer to African magic / healing rituals in particular to the procedure of scarification, initiation rite of passage from childhood in adulthood linked to the symbolic moment of the entry of the individual into the tribe.” In doing so, each portrait by Jorit initiates its subject into what he refers to as the “human tribe.”
The Nelson Mandela Forum holds this same dream for unity, stating on its website that it adopted its namesake from this icon on November 3rd, 2004 in an effort “to underline the commitment and the figure of Nelson Mandela above all to the new generations, and to promote solidarity initiatives towards specific humanitarian projects.” In addition to periodically hosting an array of large, human rights-related events, the forum also houses “four permanent exhibitions on human rights and on the path to world more respectful of these rights.” Mandela proved the figure to most effectively represent this commitment to human rights, and “the universal values he courageously pushed, both in the struggle against apartheid, and in the work of pacification and liberation from social hardship.”
Images by Francesco Niccolai and Marco Borrelli.
Jorit: website | facebook | instagram
The Nelson Mandela Forum: website | facebook | instagram
