What might we expect to learn about a person from visiting a place named after them? Is naming an urban place simply an act of commemoration, or could such locations ‘say’ more? Inspired by initial discussions with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa, through the synthesis of cultural heritage and graphic form the Memorialising Mandela in the Metropolis project highlights interest in the increasing variety of places named after Nelson Mandela.
The research and impact activities and projects featured here provide insight into developing an exploratory hypothesis to establish what can be learned from places named after Nelson Mandela through graphic heritage. The following offers an overview of our interest in places named after Nelson Mandela and the appeal to others as our research has developed since 2021.
1. Named after Nelson: Learning from places named after Nelson Mandela through graphic heritage.
2. Institute of Advance Studies Fellows: Zandile Myeka and Dr Yolandi Burger
3. Mandela placemaking through graphic heritage
4. Media coverage
5. Publications
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1. Named after Nelson: Learning from places named after Nelson Mandela through graphic heritage.
Funding Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) · Start 01/10/2023 · Duration 15 months · Total award £70,213
Overview
What might we expect to learn about a person through visiting a place named after them? This question has occupied design researchers at Loughborough University since 2021 and has been explored in locations associated with Nelson Mandela. Most recently this has been in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation on the project Named after Nelson: Learning from places named after Nelson Mandela through Graphic Heritage [NaN].
For an account of the project’s early development browse the booklet immediately below.
Watch this short film of the Named after Nelson: Exhibition build, installation, and opening.
Workshop
Workshop participants explore the exhibition.
Detail from NaN exhibition panel.
Visit the project website →
Download photographs from the Named after Nelson archive →
Watch television broadcast about the project →
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2. Institute of Advance Studies Fellows: Zandile Myeka and Dr Yolandi Burger
In July 2024, Loughborough University’s Institute of Advanced Studies hosted visits from Zandile Myeka (Metadata and Photographic Archivist for the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory) and Dr Yolandi Burger (Research Fellow, based in Pretoria). Watch their dual seminar Named after Nelson’ & digital creativity within archival practice below.
Activities
Wednesday 17 July 2024
Invited guest speaker—Zandile Myeka, Race and representation in the archive, Serendipity: Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Leicester.
Pawlet Brookes MBE invited Zandile to speak about the Nelson Mandela Centre Archive and her collaboration with researchers Dr Rob Harland and Dr Yolandi Burger on Madiba’s graphic heritage.
Dr Yolandi Burger, Zandile Myeka, Pawlet Brookes MBE, and Dr Rob Harland at the Serendipity.
Thursday 18 July 2024
Urbanism in Focus — Nelson Mandela International Day
1. Commemorations of Nelson Mandela in Nelson Mandela Park • 10:00–11:30 hrs • Nelson Mandela Park • Leicester
2. Co-Design Opportunities for Heritage Interpretation and Placemaking • 14:00–15:30 hrs • LCB Depot • Leicester
3. Graphic Heritage, Digital Design and Archival Practice • 17:00–19:00 hrs • LCB Depot • Leicester
Site walk in Nelson Mandela Park, Leicester, examining graphic heritage interventions that commemorate Nelson Mandela. This location features a brass plaque with text explaining the Madiba’s legacy.
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Meetings
Highlights from the visit involved exploratory meetings with: Dr Gareth Cole & Dr Lara Skelly (University Library’s Open Research Development and Discovery Team); Dr Firat Batmaz & Dr Sara Saravi (Department of Computer Science); Prof Mike Wilson (Storytelling Academy); Prof Richard Giulianotti (School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences); Dr Verity Postlethwaite (Vice-Chancellor Independent Research Fellow); Dr Taimaz Larimian (School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering), and Dr Aline Fernandez Barata (The Impact Hub).
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3. Mandela placemaking through graphic heritage
Funding GCRF Additional Funds · Start 01/04/2022 · Duration 12 months · Total award £35,000
Overview
Watch this short film of the Placemaking through Mandela’s graphic heritage project.
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Events
Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage, Workshop, 2 March 2023, Johannesburg, South Africa
Invitation to heritage practitioners (©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
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Read more about Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage workshop in the Information Pack below https://issuu.com/marketing-web/docs/exploring_madiba_s_graphic_heritage Download Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage Information Pack as PDF → + + + Zandile Miyeka presents the Nelson Mandela Foundation Archive (Photography: ©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
I have learned a lot about place naming, graphic heritage, including many other subjects […] and came to the realisation that archives and graphic heritage are linked.
Zandile Miyeka, Archivist: Metadata and Archiving, Nelson Mandela Foundation
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Ilsé Assman in conversation with Nkululeko Mthembu at the workshop. (Photography: ©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
Graphic heritage has opened a new world to me – fascinating!
Ilsé Assmann, Apricity Consulting, Johannesburg
Graphic heritage has challenged the delivery of some of these institutions.
Nkululeko Mthembu, Director, Pista Ventures, Cape Town
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Delegates gathered at Nelson Mandela Foundation to explore graphic heritage from several perspectives that included toponymy, graphic images, digital design, cultural heritage, place-making, archival practice, intellectual property, and copyright. (Photography: ©Nelson Mandela Foundation 2023)
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Engagement with Creative Industry practitioners
Watch this short video of the Placemaking through Mandela’s graphic heritage: The UX Sprint of the Umsuka Platform account of developing a digital prototype UX Sprint sessions.
Download the video here →
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4. Media coverage
eNCA Television Interview: 25 April 2024 at 19:47
News Night with Vuyo Mvoko
Named after Nelson | Exploring Madiba’s Graphic Heritage
African Bank Radio Interview: 25 April 2024 at 09:30
Power Talk with Lerato Mbele
SAfm Radio Interview: 25 April 2024 at 14:15
Full Circle with Bridget Masinga
GROOTfm Radio Interview: 17 July 2024 at 12:30
Arts Calendar with Francois van Rensburg
Tik Tok Interview: 18 July 2024
Okay Africa with Yinka Owate
Nelson Mandela Park in Leicester, United Kingdom
Watch here
What birthday present would you give Nelson Mandela?
Yinka Owate interviews Dr Yolandi Burger and Zandile Myeka for Tik Tok media channel Okay Africa. See link below.
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5. Publications
Journal papers
Burger, Y., Harland, R.G. and McKenzie, C. (2024) “Named after Nelson: Tracing the threads of graphic heritage in Gauteng, South Africa”, Image and Text, (In Press)
Harland, R. G., Burger, Y., Barnes, A. and Burger, E. A. (2022) “Memorialising Madiba in South Africa: The Role of Graphic Heritage and Toponymy in two Contrasting Urban Places”, The Journal of Public Space, 7(1), pp. 17-36. doi: 10.32891/jps.v7i1.1571.
Booklet
Harland, R.G., Burger, Y. and McKenzie, C. (eds.) (2024) Named after Nelson: Learning from places named after Nelson Mandela through Graphic Heritage. Graphic Design Research Unit, School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.25447459.
Conference proceedings
Harland, R.G., Burger, Y., & Burger, E.A. (2023) ‘Notes on public places in Madiba’s memory: Using archival resources for graphic heritage interventions in urban development.’ In Erk (ed.). Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures. AMPS Proceedings Series. 1-3 Dec, 2022. ISSN 2398-9467. https://amps-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Amps-Proceedings-Series-32.pdf
Harland, R.G., Barnes, A., Burger, Y. (2022). ‘The Absence of Graphic Representations of Madiba in Nelson Mandela Park, Mamelodi, South Africa’. In: Bruyns, G., Wei, H. (eds) [ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes. IASDR 2021. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4472-7_193 https://youtu.be/u4_an6JjYvU
De Menezes Migliari, M., Harland, R.G. (2022). ‘Making Praça Nelson Mandela: Morphological Change and Graphic Interventions to Define a New Square in the Botafogo District of Rio de Janeiro’. In: Bruyns, G., Wei, H. (eds) [ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes. IASDR 2021. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4472-7_120
The research extends the Newton Fund Repositioning Graphic Heritage project, which established how town and cityscapes are dense in graphic heritage, often triggering diverse memories and meanings in as many forms as there are people.
