The South African Jewish Museum is thrilled to present Mandela Remembered – Art Inspired by Madiba, a comprehensive collection of artworks in the image of, and inspired by, Nelson Mandela. The exhibition will open at the SA Jewish Museum on 25 May 2014 and will run until Mandela Day, 18 July 2014.

The exhibition which includes works in media ranging from painting and photography to beadwork, features such artists as Wayne Barker, Richard Chauke, Loren Hodes, Kagisa Pat Mautloa, Billy and Jane Makhubele, Collen Maswanganyi, Rankadi Daniel Mosako, Velaphi Mzimba, Roy Ndinisa, Len Sak, Jurgen Schadeberg, Joachim Schonfeldt, Eric Sher, Dean Simon, Lena Woolf, Susan Woolf, John Catlin and Zapiro.

Exhibition curator Natalie Knight recounts that some of these artists were severely disadvantaged during the Apartheid era and were only able to find fulfilment of their talent after the release of Mandela and the birth of a democratic South Africa 1994. Others actively used resistance art in the fight against Apartheid.

The exhibition will be opened on Africa Day, 25 May 2014, with a talk by Matthew Willman, commissioned photographer to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Willman will at the same time be launching his new book, We Called Him Madiba: A 10 Year Photographic Journey by Matthew Willman.

Says Gavin Morris, Director of the South African Jewish Museum, “There is a special connection between Madiba and the SA Jewish Museum. Madiba opened our museum in December 2000 and his relationship with his Jewish fellow South Africans has pride of place among the exhibits. We would be doing his memory a disservice if we did not honour his memory in some way now that he is no longer with us. We decided that a group exhibition by a diverse selection of South African artists, each presenting works inspired by Madiba, would be the best manner in which to pay homage to the man and his message of forgiveness and inclusiveness.”