Nelson Mandela Capture Site

Nelson Mandela was arrested on the 5th August 1962 outside Howick in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, and sentenced to 27 years of Prison. The Project unveiled on the 50th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's arrest commemorates the event and turned the site into a now successful tourism destination.

Together with Artist Marco Cianfanelli and architect Jeremy Rose (1963-2015), we developed the sculpture approach and staging of the poles through anamorphosis. The technique can be traced back to its elemental form in the stone age cave paintings and then later used in the Renaissance by Leonardo Da Vinci, ( Leonardo Eye in the Codex Atlanticus (1483-1518)) , became the designer driver and the recipe to dramatise the visitor experience. It starts by spotting a forest of 50 poles ( referring to the 50th year commemoration of the Mandela arrest). The curiosity to approach the peculiar series of objects is suggested by a path cut in the landscape. As we approach, the cut becomes more profound and broader up to a point where the vantage point becomes evident as the silhouette appears. At precisely 27 meters (referring to the 27 years imprisonment of Nelson Mandela), Mandela's face appears floating in front of KwaZulu Natal's hills.