From place names to narrative spaces
My research was inspired by an encounter with Nelson Mandela Park in Leicester while travelling by bus to a hospital. Seeing Mandela’s name in an everyday public place outside South Africa made me wonder how the name had travelled, what it meant to the people using the park, and what visitors might learn about Mandela by spending time there. The park has since become very close to my heart and represents a symbol of hope in my own journey. These questions developed into Named after Nelson, an impact project that explores how place names, signs, images, architecture and other forms of graphic heritage transform ordinary locations into carriers of memory.
The joint fellowship supported by the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies and Loughborough University’s Institute of Advanced Studies enabled me to return the research to the place where it began. It created opportunities to engage with various stakeholders, including researchers, heritage practitioners, municipal stakeholders and residents. A public event connected Nelson Mandela Park with seven places in South Africa, while my seminar titled Nelson Mandela’s Narrative Spaces helped me develop the idea that named places function as narrative infrastructures through which memory, identity and civic meaning are negotiated.
A central finding is that naming a place after Mandela does not automatically communicate his legacy. The name establishes an expectation, but its meaning is shaped by the information, imagery, accessibility, management and everyday care of the place. Graphic heritage can therefore reveal both what is communicated and what remains absent from public narratives. The project has produced a peer-reviewed publication, a travelling exhibition and digital resources, including a podcast series for children. The original exhibition at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory attracted almost 3,500 visitors and is currently at Emeris’ Sandton Campus until 31 October 2026.
My future research will focus on developing the graphic heritage agenda as a distinct field of design and heritage research with my collaborators. This entails to explore how signs, plaques, inscriptions, murals, memorials, street names and other graphic forms shape the ways in which people encounter and interpret urban narratives. Within the Named after Nelson project, a specific priority will be to capture oral histories connected to the naming of Nelson Mandela Park in Leicester, particularly while those involved can still contribute their first-hand accounts.