A long wall of freedom adorns the Cape Town home of artist Cui "Simon" Ning. After three years, Ning is putting the final touches to his two-metre high and six-metre wide oil painting of Nelson Mandela, divided into four panels.The former statesman stands in the middle of sepia-toned depictions of history, starting with his life in Qunu.Looking sombre, he wears black, with an Aids awareness ribbon."It then goes to Joburg, and the 1955 trial and then him coming out of prison," said Ning.The artist talks excitedly about his love for South Africa and Mandela. "I'm a South African, not Chinese," said the Chinese-born artist, who completed his Master's degree at Rhodes University in 1999. He lives in Bellville with his wife, Jean, and daughter, Megan.He was inspired by Mandela's autobiography, A Long Walk to Freedom, but said he wished the film based on the book had the same attention to detail as his painting."This painting is better than the movie. This painting has real people, and you only see a few real people in the film," he said.Although he does not yet know what will happen to the painting, Ning said: "I want it to be accessible to all South Africans to see. It's important for everyone, especially the young people, to see these events."This is not his first foray into Madiba paintings. He has another work of art in his home, one of 20 he was commissioned to do in 2005 depicting the Rivonia trial.And Ning's portrait of Mandela and wife Graça Machel was displayed in their Houghton home."I saw him many times. He wanted to see the artist who did the painting. He even knew my name. He was like a normal person. If he didn't have all his bodyguards you wouldn't know he was famous. And he was very tall."Mandela had joked with him about his own death when Ning's portrait of Walter Sisulu was displayed at Sisulu's funeral."He said, 'You did a painting for Walter, don't forget about me one day'."..