Much of the world’s attention is now focused on what’s taking place in a hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela, that country’s national hero and beloved freedom fighter, lies critically ill.
Nearly 20 years ago, the eyes of the world were focused on a much more jubilant scene when the people of South Africa held their first democratic election and ended the brutality of apartheid with a solid victory for Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) party. That momentous election is being brought to life at the Fowler Museum in a small but inspirational exhibition — "Mandela for President: South Africa Votes for Democracy" — featuring a collection built by Africanist scholar Doran H. Ross, emeritus director of the Fowler. Ross traveled to South Africa right before the 1994 election and again in 1995 and assembled a vivid visual record of that event — a plethora of artwork, campaign materials, sample ballots, posters, voting instruction sheets, colorful commemorative cloths, T-shirts and even neckties. His hope, said Betsy D. Quick, curator of the exhibition and the Fowler’s director of education and curatorial affairs, was to document this important occasion in the permanent holdings of the Museum and to someday honor Mandela’s legacy with an exhibition.
During those four historic days of April 26–29, 1994, nearly 20 million South Africans — 16 million of whom had never voted before — waited patiently for hours outside polling stations to make their choice among 19 political parties, including the ANC and the National Party of President F. W. de Klerk. Incredibly, 91 percent of all eligible voters in South Africa participated, changing the destiny of their nation.
"President Mandela Voting," by Capetown artist Masaego Johannes Segogela, depicts Mandela casting his ballot under the gaze of a monitor from the Independent Electoral Commission, which ensured a free and open election. The artwork is on loan to the Fowler by Michael and Aunene Finger.
With Mandela’s 95th birthday and the 20th anniversary of his election approaching, organizers at the Fowler felt that time had finally come.
"We’re very delighted to be able to present this exhibition, even as we join the international community in wishing for the President's return to good health," said Quick. "We’re also very grateful for the foresight and wisdom that Mr. Ross displayed in building this collection." While most of the items on display in "Mandela for President: South Africa Votes for Democracy," which runs through Sept. 8, were collected by Ross, a few items were given to the Fowler by other UCLA Africanists, including professor Ned Alpers and his wife, Annie, and professor William Worger and his wife, Nancy Clark. The exhibition was originally conceived as a companion to one that just recently closed, "Ernest Cole Photographer," which showcased one of South Africa’s first black photojournalists whose works graphically portray what it was like to be black and live under the yoke of apartheid.
Commemorative cloth with images of Mandela and the ANC logo. Throughout the African continent, visits by dignitaries, political slogans and campaigns, important civic events and the death of revered community members or leaders are recognized by the wearing of commemorative cloths.
In talking with several UCLA students, curator Quick immediately realized that the exhibition on Mandela’s election would also be a way of reintroducing him to a younger generation, many of whom only vaguely remember him. "Students didn’t know much about his background, and many were unfamiliar with the brutal realities of apartheid," Quick said.
"We were surprised by that, especially with the direct connections between apartheid and our own nation's history of civil rights," she explained. "So we felt this was an appropriate way to begin the conversation: Who was Mandela? Why is his legacy so important, and why do we regard him as a hero today?"
The first artwork that visitors to the exhibition are likely to encounter is "President Mandela Voting" (1994), a set of wooden figures that depicts Mandela casting his ballot under the gaze of a monitor from the Independent Electoral Commission, a national body charged with ensuring a free and open election and educating voters on the principles of democracy and the electoral process. "There were many photographs and works of art documenting this moment, showing Mandela with a ballot in hand," Quick said. Capetown artist Masaego Johannes Segogela created this work as well as another on view in an adjoining section of the Fowler's "Intersections" exhibition. "Apartheid’s Funeral" shows the personified founder and architect of apartheid as well as members of the clergy and the ANC party in attendance as the evil of apartheid is buried in a grave. To tell the story of the vote, the exhibition lays out a historical path, starting with a biographical sketch of Mandela’s life. Other details about the election are presented, including pre-election incidences of violence attributed to whites opposed to majority black rule, the large number of political parties represented on the ballot, and the creation of a new national flag just seven days before the vote. Musical tributes to Mandela from around the world play in the exhibition space, along with South Africa’s national anthem and a speech by Mandela.
In the glass case in the foreground, clockwise from bottom left: political buttons supporting Mandela for president; T-shirt; necktie baseball cap; and a painted tin bowl that reads "Souvenir Freedom of the 90's."
The works on view intersect with Mandela’s story. Among them is an iconic poster created by California artist Rupert Garcia and lent by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics that demanded Mandela’s release from Robben Island, where he spent 18 years in a maximum-security prison. All told, Mandela was imprisoned by the government for 27 years.
Part of the ANC party's campaign for Mandela involved a set of 16 paper posters that circulated widely prior to the election. According to Quick, the set unfolds the details of his life: the history of his resistance from his early years to his later defiance, his trial for treason, and his years of imprisonment."
Ephemera connected to the election fill the gallery: colorful cloths emblazoned with Mandela’s photographs that were fashioned into clothes or wrappers, a T-shirt imprinted with de Klerk’s photo and the logo of his party, and lengthy sample ballot sheets with photos of political party candidates and listings of political parties. Since the vast majority of eligible voters had never before voted, the electoral commission created posters and instructional materials — illustrated for those who were illiterate — that explained the nature of the secret ballot and laid out the specifics of the voting process, which included scanning and marking voters’ hands with an invisible ultraviolet ink to make sure no one voted more than once.
"Happy Birthday, Tat, Tatane, Tate Vader," in honor of Mandela's 85th birthday, was embroidered by members of a women’s collective in one of the notorious "homelands" where black South Africans were forced to live in poverty.
"Millions of people had been denied rightful citizenship and barred from voting, and skepticism about the election process was understandable," said Quick. "One poster, showing the '10 commandments for voters,' emphasized, 'You have nothing to fear. Remember that your vote is secret. Only you and God know how you vote.'"
In the end, Mandela and the ANC carried 62.6 percent of the vote, while de Klerk’s National Party, the second-highest vote getter, received 20.4 percent, with most votes cast along racial lines. Many works on display at the Fowler celebrate this victory and the people’s love for a true South African hero. Prominent among them is a large, elaborately embroidered cloth — created by a women’s collective in one of the notorious "homelands" where black South Africans were forced to live in poverty — that depicts people celebrating Mandela’s 85th birthday. Stitched lovingly at the top is "Happy Birthday, Tata, Tatane, Tate Vader" — terms of endearment, Quick said.
"We are reminded of the long struggle to end apartheid," Quick commented, "and the extraordinary affirmation of liberty that was the election of 1994."
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"Mandela for President: South Africa Votes for Democracy remains on view through Sept. 8. On July 21, the Fowler will join the world community's annual celebration of Mandela Day, marking his 95th birthday, which takes place July 18. At 2 p.m., at a free "Kids in the Courtyard" event, storyteller Michael McCarty honor Mandela. Children will also be making drawings and writing letters to send to schoolchildren in South Africa.