Until January 6, 2019, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is hosting a major new exhibit focused on the life and work of Nelson Mandela. At Mandela: Struggle for Freedom, visitors can experience the tiny cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, take a stand in front of a giant armoured vehicle, make a virtual protest poster on a digital light table, or enter a secret apartment for freedom fighters forced underground.
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
— Nelson Mandela, 1964
This exhibit is a rich sensory experience of imagery, soundscape, digital media and objects is used to explore the earthshaking fight for justice and human dignity in South Africa – and its relevance to issues of today. Mandela’s unbreakable will inspired people around the globe to mobilize for human rights. Born 100 years ago next month (on July 18), he was one of the most famous human rights defenders of the 20th century and the face of a movement against racial injustice that rocked the world. Mandela is one of only six people to be made honorary Canadian citizens. He travelled to Canada a few months after his historic 1990 release from prison to thank its leaders and citizens for their support.
The new exhibition was developed by the CMHR in collaboration with the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, whose founder and director, Christopher Till, has travelled to Winnipeg for the opening and will speak at a free, public event tonight at the CMHR.
The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is open seven days a week
Daily: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Title Image: Aaron Cohen/CMHR
