Nelson Mandela’s hand drawn paintings done during his time at the Robben Island prison will be sold as NFTs. The collection, which is titled ‘My Robben Island’ will consist of five watercolors and a handwritten note created by the iconic hero. Each piece has a Mandela signature and will be sold via Nifty Gateway on March 9th. One NFT will be sold for US$699, or you can get the whole collection for US$3,495. The sale will take place for six hours, with the amount of NFTs sold to determine the size of the My Robben Island collection (with there being a maximum of 10,000 to be issued). A part of the money raised by the NFTs will be payed to a memorial garden at Qunu, where Mandela is buried.
The watercolor paintings were part of art therapy sessions that Mandela participated in during his 18 year stay on Robben Island.
One of the artworks, named ‘The Cell’, shows the interior of the cell that Mandela stayed. Makaziwe Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s daughter, described her father’s watercolors as “the triumph of the human spirit.” According to her, turning the paintings into NFTs would help her father’s message and art reach new audiences.
