Nelson Mandela

A bronze sculpture of the former President Nelson Mandela by the South African artist Zelda Stroud (b. 1964). The bronze bust represents the former South African President Mandela (1918-2013) in a proud and kind manner. As an iconic figure and world leader, this is how most knew him to be a humble, but revolutionary political leader that brought South Africa into a democracy in 1994. Mandela was South Africa’s first black head of the state and the first president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Mandela was also a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary hero, a political leader and a philanthropist, who served as the President of South Africa from 1994 until 1999. Mandela, an icon of democracy and social justice, received many awards and honours, including a Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to make South Africa and the world a better more peaceful place. Short biography: Zelda Stroud was born in 1964 in South Africa. She is a sculptor and multimedia artist who also teaches art history at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa. She has an MA(FA) from the University of Pretoria. She has at various times taught sculpture, life-drawing, jewellery-manufacture and art history at different institutions. She has built architectural models, sculpted wax work figures for museums and has produced more than a dozen life-size bronze figurative sculptures for public commissions. Her personal artwork reflects her fascination with text, skill, jewellery, model-making, and the human body and mind. Stroud’s work expresses her interest in the social and economic manipulation of individuals (mainly women) by the media, peer pressure and their social environments. Stroud has done commissions for sculptures across South Africa and has also participated in many solo and group exhibitions over South Africa. Stroud was a merit winner of the 2012 Sasol New Signatures Competition.