The world knows Nelson Mandela. But for the Mandela Poster Project, we wanted to move beyond his legacy and share his unbreakable spirit. For us, celebrating Mandela’s life meant experiencing it—even if only for a moment. To that end, we created a poster that unfolds to create a space roughly the size of Mandela’s cell at Robben Island prison. At first glance, our poster simply read, “He illuminated the world from an 8-foot cell,” but there was more to the message. The poster was not one page but many, designed to unfold to an eight-by-seven-foot rectangle.

We took our posters to an international stage and unfolded these pieces around the world. We watched as visitors stepped inside, and felt not only the confinement of the 18 years Mandela spent there, but the spirit that helped him emerge on the other side. We hope our project will do its small part in shaping a better world: inspiring people to come together, speak up, and challenge the injustices they see, both big and small.

Read the full case study with juror comments here: [http://www.aiga.org/cased-2015-winner-mandela-paper-prison]

“Although its power and simplicity struck me immediately, upon viewing this piece I found myself wanting something more. More history. More reference to the limitations of the space. More visibility into Mandela’s impact. A better understanding of how his time was spent and how he achieved such amazing things from these confines. The poster’s greatest success is not in the shock of the size of the cell, but in its ability to spark immediate reflection—forcing us to reevaluate perceived boundaries, excuses, or inconveniences that cause us each to lose focus on our own purpose.” —Sara Frisk