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MILK Books and DeviantArt are honored to have collaborated on a Mandela Day initiative that saw the publication of the article When Image Must Speak For the Silenced Voice: The Power of Art & Photographs of Nelson Mandela in the Transformation of South Africa by Ruth Hobday, editor in chief at PQ Blackwell, and co-founder of MILK Books in Auckland, New Zealand.
PQ Blackwell is the international publisher of Mandela: The Authorised Portrait, Conversations with Myself and Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations.
Through her work on these and other books based on Nelson Mandela’s life and writing, Ruth Hobday offers a unique perspective on Nelson Mandela’s mastery of image and visual communication and how they relate to the extensive and rapidly growing online art community.
“During the apartheid regime in South Africa sometimes the only method of communication and protest was through the use of art; shared images that carried hope to the people and conveyed messages around the globe at a time when words were banned,” says Hobday. “Mandela himself said after his release, ‘During the worst years of repression, when all avenues of legitimate protest were closed by emergency legislation, it was the arts that articulated the plight and the democratic aspirations of our people.’”
“Today more than ever in this age of ever-increasing levels of censorship and surveillance, imagery must continue to be one of our most powerful voices and it is thanks to the free and unfettered sharing of art in online communities such as DeviantArt that individuals are able to quickly communicate and share compelling visual messages to effect change.”
“We are honored to work with Ruth Hobday to present her memories of Nelson Mandela as well as a unique perspective on his mastery of image and visual communication,” says Angelo Sotira, CEO and co-founder of DeviantArt.
"We salute Nelson Mandela and all those whose life’s art, like Mandela’s example, cut the hardest stone of prison walls.”
As part of Mandela Day, MILK Books is donating 67 cents for everyone who joins their database from 18 July to the Nelson Mandela School Homework Diary project that provides disadvantaged South African learners with a free school homework diary.
Read the article here.