FMP (BA): Research - Nelson Mandela

BBC Documentary - Nelson Mandela: The Fight for Freedom

One of the things that my lecturers highlighted when I showed him my initial design for Nelson Mandela's quote "It always seems impossible until it's done" was that I needed to do more research into his life and perhaps draw up some more ideas that relate strongly to his work. This was because Nelson Mandela was very important to South Africa and his work reached worldwide, so my design just gently brushed the surface.

This was when I started searching for documentaries to try and figure out where exactly he had written/said this quote and even though I didn't really find this out it was still quite inspirational to watch. The most reliable documentary I had found was done by the BBC, which I've included above.

Here's the link if you want to watch it for yourself!

While I was watching this documentary I made notes on the aspects of his life that really stood out to me:

• He had been imprisoned for over 20 years
• He was part of the ANC & ANCYL - African National Congress and African National Youth League
• 1985 - violence escalated
• Deal - President P.W. Botha - "release Nelson Mandela if he would say that he rejects violence as a means to reach and achieve political ends" - Mandela rejected this
• "Your freedom and mine will not be separated" - His response, said by his daughter
• South Africa back then - "Black people were ruled/oppressed by a white minority" - very segregated
• He founded the first black law firm in Africa
• Police was first to act violently - lots of protestors were killed - then they started to protest violently - bombing buildings to try and avoid hurting people
• Sent to Robben Island
• Tried to send private mail to Winne Mandela - prison guards burnt them all 
• 12 years after being sent to prison - black people still fought
• People viewed him as a god but he wanted to be a human being
• Black hand logo - spread worldwide, not just in South Africa - Great Britain was the strongest supporter
• F.W de Klerk (new president) - began to talk with Mandela to set him free - ANC thought he had betrayed them
• Mandela - only agreed if there was equal rights and equal vote
• February 11th 1990 - Mandela appeared in public for the first time in ages - was released from imprisonment
• Black people could now vote equally
• 1994 - Mandela became president
• Rugby World Cup in 1995 - was present and dressed in rugby attire - very important occasion - they won
• 46664 - his prison number

After I watched this video I was amazed at jut how much pain he had been in and how hard his life in prison was, and yet when he was released he responded by forgiving everyone instead of acting violently.

Mind Map

All of the points made above would hopefully help me out when coming up with ideas, and the next thing I did with these is placed them in a mind map in order to produce these ideas. 

Mood Board

From what you could see from my mind map I had already started to generate some ideas, so to make things easier I have created a mind map on Photoshop to upload here (although I'll still pin some onto my Pinterest board). 

When I was collecting images for a mood board I found an art gallery that displayed some of Nelson Mandela's original artworks! I was so amazed and surprised because they didn't give the slightest hint in the documentary that he did art. 

(http://www.belgraviagallery.com/artist/nelson-mandela/; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-06/nelson-mandela-letters/2900788 (4); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_fist. To see more of my inspirations click here )

I am going to keep on adding more to this mood board but instead of updating it all of the time I'll just pin them to my Pinterest board. 

Reflective Learning

Here I have carried more in-depth research into Nelson Mandela's life & work as a reaction to the feedback I had received from my lecturers. They were right, I find it more inspirational when I actually looked into his life and I have a few more ideas running around my head. 

I feel bad that I didn't look into his life before but now I am really inspired and amazed at all of the pain he has suffered and yet he turned the other cheek rather than reacted with violence. This has taught me that whenever I do think of doing a quote I should always do a brief background research so that I could create something that strongly ties with it instead of just making it "look pretty". 

My next step is to start sketching some ideas down and see what happens! According to my schedule I still have another few more days to research so I'll keep on adding to this post as I go along.

Learning Outcomes:

[4] Developed research skills in the area of contemporary professional practice.

[5] Developed skills of independent study, resource utilisation, problem-solving and decision-taking.
[8] Developed their ability to scan and organise data, abstract meaning from information and communicate knowledge in a variety of formats.