Fight against apartheid a story written by many more than Nelson Mandela, new exhibit proves

Nelson Mandela's fight against apartheid was never his battle alone.

He is indeed the "main character" in a new Canadian Museum for Human Rights exhibit, debuting Thursday, which portrays thenarrative arc of the anti-apartheid's leader life but his story intersects with other tales of resistance and resilience in the exhibit at the Winnipeg museum.

There are stories of bravefreedom fighters who went underground to evade capture,children who shielded themselves in the face of armoured vehicles with the lids oftrash cansand the Canadians an ocean away who campaigned for sanctions against the South African government and itssystem of institutionalized racial segregation.

Each of these stories are portrayed in the newMandela: Struggle for Freedom exhibition, which media toured beforean opening event at 7 p.m. CT Thursday.

"People tend to focus on Mandela, but the exhibit is also about the fact that many men and women joined in the struggle," saidIsabelleMasson, lead curator at CMHR. "This struggle had an international component and some Canadians were involved."

In a story dividedinto five chapters, the exhibit beginswith the bleakness of apartheid, represented in a dearth of colour and a hulking five-metre wall plastered in laws that codified racial segregation in South Africa for decades.

Around the corner from the imposing installation, visitors are introduced to Mandela theboxer, the lawyer, the strapping19-year-old wearing his first suit.

Those were his early identities before he became an anti-apartheid activistaccused of treason and forcedinto hiding while his government actively used violence against its citizens and, decades later,South Africa's first black president.

While underground, Mandela appeared to the worldin a famous 1961 TV interview from a hiddenlocation.

It'sone of several iconic moments inMandela's journey recreated in the exhibit.

Visitors are encouraged to imagine themselves in the room,while a video of theactual interview plays in the background.

People can also flip through a copy of Mandela'spassport and explore the hidden nooks in theclandestine room where demonstrators met in secret.

"Instead of putting this behind a velvet rope, we'vetaken those things away and really allowed our visitors to go into this space,"said Rob Vincent, CMHR'smanager of design and production.

The tiny concrete jail cell where Mandela spent17 years, of his total 28 in prison, and continued advocating for change,is depictedas well. On its walls is a video showing a silhouette of Mandela, walking and eating. The video changes once a person steps into the jail.

Further down,areplica of an armoured vehicle stands in contrast with garbagecans, the shieldsthat young South African children held up in defianceagainst government brutality.

Visitors can join the demonstration by creating virtual posters projected onto the wall and learn about the contribution of Canadians like Caroline Goodie Mogadime, a South African-Canadian teacher who became an anti-apartheid activist.

Her daughter, Dolana Mogadime, an associate professor at Brock University in Ontario, wasmoved tosee her mother represented when she visited the museum Thursday.

After arriving in Canada in the early 1970s, Caroline GoodieMogadimewas part of the movement to boycott companies that benefited from South African policies. She also became a sought-after public speaker.

"What happened to some of us when we came here is that we carried the struggle from our own country and were part of that whole movement of change," Dolana said.

"Along with the prime ministers and the dignitaries, [Canada's former ambassador to the United Nations] Stephen Lewis and [former prime minister]Joe Clarkand all these important people, were everyday people."

The final sectionof the exhibit, titledFreedom, presents the successes of the movement against the backdrop of the struggles that persistin South Africa and Canada, like racism.

Massonhopes people will leave the exhibitfeeling inspired.

Curator witnessed apartheid first-hand

"I hope that the exhibit will trigger some reflection and questions, and that there will be those connections made to current human rights struggles," she said.

She was living in South Africa in 1994 at the time of the country's first democratic election, in which Mandela was elected president four years after his release from jail.

She never expected to tell the story of Mandela's fight for freedomto the worldon such a grand scale.

"At best, I'd imagine writing a book or an article," she said, chuckling. "Creating an exhibition is something I could never imagine being part of."

The temporary exhibition officially opens to the public onJune 8, and will run until early 2019.