In 2012, artist Marco Cianfanelli created a sculpture as a reminder of the fiftieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela\u2019s arrest in 1962, and subsequent 27-year imprisonment.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a little tardy in discovering this, but I\u2019m glad I did\u2014even though I\u2019ve only seen it online.<\/p>\n
The sculpture stands just across the road from where Mandela was arrested, 90 kilometers south of Durban, in South Africa’s Midlands.<\/p>\n
The sculpture comprises 50 anchored steel columns, each between 6.5 and 9 meters high. The columns, which are intended to rust over time, symbolize the prison bars that held Nelson Mandela, before he went on to become president of South Africa.<\/p>\n
Viewed up close, the sculpture appears to be an aggregation of steel rods. But, amazingly, as you step back to a distance of 35 meters, the 50 linear vertical units lining up to create the illusion of a flat image of Mandela in profile.<\/p>\n