“I added in the quotation ‘It always seems impossible until it is done’. The last bit of tile I put down was the last letter of the word ‘done’.
“This quotation of Nelson Mandela’s always stuck with me and seemed fitting with attempting an artwork of this scale,” surfer/artist Andrew Donaghy tells me.
If ever you stay over at Belinda and David Malherbe’s Coffee Shack Backpackers in Coffee Bay, you will have the special privilege of meeting the late ex-president, the much-loved, Nelson Mandela, in mosaic, in the front foyer at reception when you sign in.
David Malherbe commissioned the piece a decade ago when Andrew was working there as the resident surfing instructor, maintenance man and jack of all trades.
While Andrew had used his art talent to repair some of the mosaic work on site, he had never done a full portrait before, certainly not one on this grand scale that would take seven months and 11,235 pieces of tile to create.
“It is a challenging form of art as you cannot mix the colours you require, but instead have to use tiny pieces of tile to suggest highlights or shading,” he says.
Readers can watch the piece come to life on YouTube: Mandela Mosaic.
Coffee Shack manager Nomandla Xakatha speaks of the Mandela mosaic with proud affection.
“Andrew did the piece with his heart and with love,” she tells me.
“It took him a huge amount of time and I love it.
“Tata Mandela was a peacemaker and I love him. He showed us the way.
“I am here because of him. Today we can see the difference he brought to our lives in education and peace.”
Nomandla is a fine display of ubuntu herself and staff at the backpackers are masters of hospitality. Tata would be proud.
Today Andrew Donaghy is a self-employed graphics designer and signwriter.
In Europe he works the summer in the UK in graphics and in T-shirt design, but when the chilly weather hits he comes home to the Sunshine Coast, Port Alfred, for our SA summer.
His Mandela mosaic is a joy to him. It is a memory of great times, friends and people he has shared some of his best days with.
Having been in the Transkei, Coffee Bay, in 2013 at the time of Tata Mandela’s passing, he was with “bantu besizwe” (people of the land).
He was able to witness and feel the loss and the love of the people for Mandela.
The pressure to complete a portrait of excellence was no small task and Andrew is pleased that the work is a success and it is in the place where it belongs.
International guests are thrilled to hear the story of our nation builder statesman and pose for pictures next to the work of affection and have explained to them why “thank you Tata” is meaningful to us.
As Saturday Dispatch comes to an end and Friday Weekender hits the streets in Buffalo City and Gqeberha this writer is pleased to be a part of this new feature.
Some 30 years ago I lived in Port Elizabeth and ran a schools surfing league there.
One of the young scholars participating, all those years ago, was Andrew Donaghy from Port Alfred High School.
I have on fortunate occasions surfed in Coffee Bay and stayed over at Coffee Shack Backpackers.
It seems to me that somehow in this story a rainbow spans from Coffee Bay to Gqeberha.
Thank you Tata indeed.
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