Factory-produced, imitation wax-resist print fabrics, known as ‘fancy fabrics’ or ‘fancy prints’, were first introduced into Africa from Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. These cotton cloths typically combine photographic elements, large blocks of colour and geometric patterning. Commemorative cloths like the Mandela design sit within this genre. They are specially produced in very large quantities to celebrate and document significant personal, local, national and international events.

Numerous commemorative cloths featuring a portrait of Nelson Mandela, (1918-2013), co-organizer of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League and democratic South Africa’s first Black president. These have been produced in Africa, Europe and, more recently, in China.This particular Mandela cloth was first manufactured in the early 1990s following his release and continues to be popular today. Mandela’s presidency ran from 10 May 1994 to 16 June 1999.

The cloth was made in the early 1990s and purchased at an anti-apartheid fundraising event held at Camden Town Hall, London. Such fundraising events were not unusual. Across Britain, from the mid-1980s to the fall of the apartheid system in 1994, grass roots and left-of-centre organisations campaigned for South Africa’s return to Black majority rule.