Description
Susan Woolf’s Mandela’s Sign (2012) forms part of her pioneering body of work exploring South Africa’s taxi-hand-sign system — a non-verbal visual language used daily across the country. In this series, Woolf isolates and elevates these gestures, treating them as culturally embedded symbols worthy of archival preservation and artistic interpretation.
In Mandela’s Sign, Woolf creates a gesture dedicated to Nelson Mandela — a figure whose legacy embodies unity, freedom, and the shared humanity that underpins South African life. By translating this tribute into the structure of a “hand sign,” Woolf positions Mandela within the same vocabulary of everyday communication used between commuters and taxi drivers. This makes the work both intimate and democratic: a national icon expressed through the language of ordinary people.
Rendered in gouache on paper at an impressive 115 × 67 cm, the piece balances graphic clarity with painterly subtlety. The matte vibrancy of gouache gives the work depth and tactility, allowing the hand symbol to stand boldly against the background while still retaining Woolf’s characteristic sensitivity to form and human gesture.
