Handwritten Letter & Artwork By Nelson Mandela To Be Sold As NFTs This Week

Some artworks and a handwritten letter by Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and Nobel prize winner who served as the first black president of the nation and spent nearly three decades in prison, are set to be sold as NFTs this week, starting March 9, 2022.

The NFT edition drop ¡°My Robben Island", is named after the Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail.

The NFT consists of five vivid watercolours painted by Mandela after he stood down as president in 1999, along with The Motivation, a handwritten text that explains his visualization of the harsh island prison. All six works bear his signature, as per a report in The Guardian.

What His Daughter Says

Makaziwe Mandela, Nelson Mandela¡¯s daughter said her father¡¯s watercolours represented ¡°the triumph of the human spirit¡±, as per The Guardian.

She said: ¡°When my dad was on the island, he was surrounded by grey. Remember, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He never thought he would walk out of prison. But the paintings say we should never despair.¡±

Offering the artworks as NFTs was a way of reaching new audiences, she added. ¡°My dad was all about creating an accessible society. This is a way of democratizing his art.¡±

She also stated that she hoped some of the money raised by the NFT sale would help pay for a memorial garden being created at Qunu, where her father is buried. ¡°Hopefully we will be able to finish the garden before I close my eyes.

The NFT Sale

The NFTs are sold at Bonhams, an auction house.

My Robben Island will be offered by Bonhams on the Nifty Gateway platform in a six-hour period on 9 March at a fixed price of $3,495 for the edition, or $699 for individual work. There is no set number for sale, although there is an upper limit of 10,000.

Here are the pictures of the letter and some artworks by Nelson Mandela which are set to be sold as NFTs.

The Window depicts the outline of Table Mountain, seen through vivid orange bars.

TheGuardian

The Lighthouse and The Church were island landmarks.

TheGuardian

¡°Robben Island is a place where courage endured in the face of endless hardship, a place where people kept on believing when it seemed their dreams were hopeless,¡± wrote Mandela in The Motivation.

TheGuardian

Also Read: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange's NFT Auction Raises Over $50 Million

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