The year was 1990. A century ago. Live on CNN on February 11th, an older man with grey hair wearing a grey suit was released from prison in Cape Town in front of the world. He was grave but smiling and waving at the cheering crowd assembled to meet him again, after 27 years in prison. His right fist closed and raised, defiant, with Winnie at his side smiling. Madiba. Nelson Mandela had disappeared from view and from photographs in 1964 after giving a speech at the conclusion of his trial, where he was convicted and received a life sentence. He was then a young man in his 40s, a former boxer with full cheeks, a beard and a mustache, his hair parted in an odd way. From 1990 until his death in 2013, a Nobel price, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, a presidency, world fame, a rugby world cup and many more events, he was under the scrutiny of photographers from around the world. A charismatic figure, a cheerful man despite all what he went through, a smiling human being, probably deeply good in his soul. Museum Hilversum presents an exhibit featuring Dutch photographer Ilvy Njiokiktjien and South African photographer Gideon Mendel, both “Remembering Mandela”. A good mix of photographs following Madiba throughout his political appearances post 1990 for Mendel, a large focus, in colors, on the free society created after the end of Apartheid for Njiokiktjien with series like “Pray for Mandela”, “last farewell” and her “Born Free, Mandela’s generation of Hope”. What to think of it? Yes, whites and blacks mix in today’s South Africa. They seem to live alongside each other rather than with each other. In most cases, the society is still divided, the rich and the poor, the privileged and the others, the ones with opportunities, those without. Illusions of a united society?
