Release Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners of South Africa and Namibia!
Release Nelson Mandela is a political poster created in 1988 by Surinder Singh, an Indian graphic artist who later migrated to Australia. Designed to mark Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday, the poster calls for the release of Mandela and all political prisoners in South Africa and Namibia. Though modest in form, the image became a powerful visual symbol within the global anti-apartheid movement.
The poster emerged during the final years of apartheid, when Mandela had spent more than two decades in prison and international pressure against the South African regime was intensifying. Its global circulation was enabled by E. S. Reddy, an Indian-born United Nations official and lifelong anti-apartheid activist, who encountered the poster in India and sent it to London. There, it was adopted by the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and widely used during the landmark London March celebrating Mandela’s 70th birthday. The image also appeared on the cover of Sechaba, the African National Congress’s official publication, and was later adapted into a United Nations sponsored greeting card.
Preserving and sharing this poster is important because it demonstrates how graphic design functioned as a tool of political solidarity across borders. It shows that visual activism was not limited to South Africa or Europe but was shaped by transnational networks involving artists, activists, and institutions from the Global South. Despite its visibility at the time, the poster’s origins remain poorly documented in digital archives, reflecting broader gaps in how design history is preserved.
This work challenges dominant narratives of graphic design history that often center Western designers, commercial aesthetics, and individual authorship. Instead, it highlights collective action, political purpose, and international exchange. By bringing attention to figures like Singh and Reddy, the poster expands our understanding of graphic design as a global practice deeply embedded in struggles for justice and liberation.
