Pratt Alumnus Illustrates New Yorker Cover in Honor of Nelson Mandela

The New Yorker cover for the week of December 16 was illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Illustration ’96) in honor of the life and work of Nelson Mandela, who passed away at the age of 95 on December 5. Titled Madiba, Nelson’s oil painting depicts a young Nelson Mandela with his fist raised in the air. Nelson sees the painting as “a tribute to the struggle for freedom from all forms of discrimination.”

Previously, Nelson wrote and illustrated the biographical children’s book, Nelson Mandela. The illustration of Mandela’s 1994 presidential victory, like The New Yorker cover, shows him raising his fist. “It’s different, it’s changed. He’s proud that he fought this fight,” Nelson said of the symbolic gesture.

Nelson has a long-standing relationship with The New Yorker. In 1997, the artist, then 22 years old and a recent Pratt graduate, was featured in the magazine after Steven Spielberg hired him to create the storyboards for the film Amistad. Since then, Nelson’s successes as an artist have included illustrating several stamps for the United States Postal Service and painting the double album cover for rapper Drake’s 2013 release “Nothing Was the Same.” His art is widely collected, and several of his paintings recently joined the permanent collection at the Muskegon Museum of Art, in Michigan.

For more information, visit the artist’s website.

Text: Hannah Holden