Ela Gandhi and Birad Yajnik pose for pictures in front of the Mandela Gandhi Wall
Yesterday, 24 July, the Mandela Gandhi Wall at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, by Birad Rajaram Yajnik, renowned artist and author, was officially opened.
Speakers who graced the opening included Sello Hatang, CE of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Virendra Gupta, the Indian High Commissioner, Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela Gandhi, Yajnik, and struggle veteran Maniben Sita.
The interactive, multimedia display features photographs, QR (quick recognition) codes that can be read by cellphones which then play videos that Birad has loaded on to the Internet, and a game that visitors can play by answering questions on the back of cards (similar to postcards) and then matching the photo on the card with the one on the wall. The picture on the wall has a small letter in a corner, which corresponds to the correct answer.
Before the speeches began, everyone had a chance to view the wall, and Yajnik himself showed guests from the Indian High Commission how to use the question-and-answer picture-matching cards and the QR codes.
While he was explaining how the pictures with multiple-choice questions on the back work, he said: “This is where the engagement starts, because it will take some time to match this picture.”
Even those who were there to work couldn’t help but interact with the exhibition, trying to answer questions on the cards, and gazing at the many photographs and quotes on the wall while Yajnik stood back, watching people appreciate his work and beaming like a proud father.
The speakers were introduced by Hatang, who also spoke about the historical relationship that Gandhi had with South Africa, and Mandela’s connections to Gandhi and his relationship with Gandhi’s grandchildren.
Yajnik spoke first, thanking the Indian High Commission and Ela Gandhi, who he said “seems to understand” his work. “My message is for the youth,” he said. “Most of my work is targeted towards high school students.”
He explained that he hoped his work might inspire the youth, and that it is from among the youth that the next Gandhi or Mandela might emerge.
Birad Yajnik demonstrates how the question cards work
Gupta said it was an honour to have the wall in “such a prestigious location”.
He said that the looking at the lives of Gandhi and Mandela feels like déjà vu; both started as lawyers and both spread a message of reconciliation, and a “very eternal message”.
He also said that “Mandela and Gandhi taught us the need to take a long-term view”, and later commented that “both these leaders were guys who walked the talk”.
Ela Gandhi, proponent of peace and a veteran of the struggle movement, also spoke. She begun her speech with praise for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, saying that “whatever I can do to help, I will”.
Regarding the exhibition, she said that “Birad has made it [the exhibition] interesting for young people”, and also emphasised the importance of the youth.
She went on to speak about the Gandhian philosophy, which Mandela held in such high regard; a philosophy that, she reminded everyone, preaches respect for all people and their beliefs.
Even though she had not planned to speak, after the other speeches Maniben Sita said a few words. Ela Gandhi had said that when Sita speaks, people listen, and they do. Sita was fragile as she got to her feet, but she spoke from beside her chair in a loud, clear, strong voice and not another sound was heard while she spoke.
She begun by saying, “The very names of our two icons light a lamp in my heart,” and spoke about how grateful she is to have grown up with her father’s first-hand recollections of Gandhi. She also quoted the following lines from the poem A Psalm of Life by Henry Longfellow, which apply to both Mandela and Gandhi:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Another related exhibition designed by Yajnik, called the Mandela Gandhi Digital Exhibition, has also been installed at Constitution Hill.
View the gallery of images of the event here
