Gonçalo Mabunda Mozambique, b. 1975
Overview
Gonçalo Mabunda (b. 1975, Maputo, Mozambique) was born two years before the commencing of the bloody Mozambican civil war that divided the region for over 15 years and would forever shape his home country and artistic career. Drawing on his country's collective memory and political history, Mabunda works with deactivated weapons retrieved from this long and terrible war, such as rockets, land mines, AK47s, amongst other objects. He then transforms these weapons and war-related materials into furniture or sculptures of anthropomorphic forms, like masks or figures. These masks and figures, - created as an allusion to the local traditional African art and dances - assume a remarkable modernist aesthetic comparable to the images produced by Braque or Picasso.
In the series of imposing Thrones, for which the artist is most famous, Mabunda critically and ironically reflects on his personal childhood experience amongst the violence of the civil war. By combining tribal symbols, artifacts traditionally associated with power, and the weapons used during the war, these Thrones bear solid political connotations and the notion of the transformative power of art.
Works
Exhibitions
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BEYOND BOUNDARIES
GROUP SHOW: Cristiano Mangovo, Gonçalo Mabunda, Luís Damião, Nelo Teixeira, Rómulo Santa Rita, Uólofe Griot and Samuel Nnorom 25 October 2023 - 9 January 2024We are pleased to present the group exhibition 'Beyond Boundaries'. With works by Cristiano Mangovo, Gonçalo Mabunda, Luís Damião, Nelo Teixeira, Rómulo Santa Rita, Uólofe Griot and Samuel Nnorom, the...Read more -
PARAGONE: What’s with mediums today?
INTERNATIONAL GROUP SHOW 26 May - 20 August 2023In the context of the Lisbon Art Week, the international contemporary art exhibition 'PARAGONE: What's with mediums today?' will open on May 26, in three exhibition centres: Cape Verde Cultural...Read more -
RESCUE OP
Group Show: Ana Silva, Bento Oliveira, Cristiano Mangovo, Gonçalo Mabunda, Micaela Fikoff and Nelo Teixeira 5 May - 24 June 2023Rescue Op, c urated by Katherine Sirois, is an initiative of P28 - Association for Creative and Artistic Development, in partnership with Carpe Diem Art and Research Association, and presents...Read more -
(IM)MATERIALITY
Group Show: Águeda's Art Center 1 October 2022 - 15 January 2023Following the success achieved during the presentation in Lisbon, and at the invitation of Águeda's Municipality, the exhibition (IM)MATERIALITY will itinerate to Águeda Arts Center in October. “(IM)MATERIALITY” promotes a...Read more -
(IM)MATERIALITY
GROUP SHOW: Not a Museum 20 May - 12 August 2022'(IM)MATERIALITY' is curated by Graça Rodrigues, Sónia Ribeiro, Katherine Sirois, Lourenço Egreja, and Diogo Bento, and exhibits, through three distinct nuclei, a significant combination of media, ranging from painting to...Read more -
DISCOURSES OF DECOLONIALITY
Group Show: Not a Museum 24 June - 30 September 2020THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE art gallery, in partnership with Not A Museum - Art Mexto, presents the exhibition “Discourses of Decoloniality'. It will be on display between June...Read more -
Intersections - Within the Global South
Group Show: Galeria Banco Económico 26 November 2019 - 16 January 2020THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE art gallery, the Banco Económico, and the South African Gallery MOMO, present, in Luanda: “Intersections - Within the Global South”. The exhibition puts in...Read more -
SPACES IN BETWEEN
Group Show: Old Palace 17 - 28 May 2019Installed in a palace in 'ruins' in downtown Lisbon, the exhibition aims to reinforce the participation of THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE at ARCO Lisboa 2019, whose focus will...Read more
Art Fairs
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ARCO Lisboa 2020
Group Show: Januário Jano, Patrick Bongoy, Pedro Pires, Nelo Teixeira, Gonçalo Mabunda, Luís Damião, and René Tavares 20 May - 14 June 2020For ARCO Art Fair 2020, This Is Not a White Cube presents a project connecting unreleased artworks by 7 contemporary artists from Angola, Mozambique, DRC,...Read more -
ARCO Lisboa 2019
Group Show: Cristiano Mangovo, Gonçalo Mabunda, and Patrick Bongoy 16 - 19 May 2019 -
Cape Town Art Fair 2019
Group Show: Cristiano Mangovo, Gonçalo Mabunda, and Nelo Teixeira 15 - 17 February 2019 -
ARTISSIMA 2018
Group Show: Cristiano Mangovo, Gonçalo Mabunda, and Pedro Pires 2 - 4 November 2018
Press
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Artists show collective performance at the Banco Económico gallery
Jornal O País, 28 November 2019 -
Painting of eight countries in collective show
Mário Cohen, Jornal de Angola, 29 November 2019 -
(IM)MATERIALITY Águeda's Art Centre
RTP, 8 October 2022 -
(IM)MATERIALITY: NOT A MUSEUM receives international art exhibition
por VÁRIOS, VOU SAIR , 14 August 2022 -
A arte africana está na moda e chegou à ARCOlisboa
Isabel Salema, Público, 16 May 2019 -
Águeda Arts Center hosts exhibition of more than 40 artists: a reflection on the materiality and immateriality
Comunidade Cultura e Arte, 26 September 2022 -
Collective Exhibition: Intersections - Within the Global South
Juciria Rodrigues, Jornal Mercado, 2 December 2019 -
Gonçalo Mabunda | Weapons For Peace
Zahra Abba Omar, ARTAFRICA Magazine, 22 August 2019 -
International Contemporary Art Exhibition will be in Lisbon starting May 26
Lusa e SIC Notícias, 16 May 2023 -
Investec Cape Town Art Fair'19: This is Not a White Cube
ART AFRICA, 13 April 2019 -
This Is NOT A White Cube e MOMO Gallery promovem exposição “Intersections – Within the Global South”
Jucíria Rodrigues, Jornal Vanguarda, 1 January 2020 -
TINAWC PRESENTS GROUP EXHIBITION "SPACES IN BETWEEN"
e-cultura, 5 May 2019
Video
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PARAGONE: What's with mediums today?
Group Show 29 June 2023 -
Discourses de Decoloniality
24 June - 30 September 2020 23 March 2023 -
(IM)MATERIALITY
INTERNATIONAL GROUP SHOW AT ÁGUEDA ARTS CENTER 1 October 2022 -
(IM)MATERIALITY
international art exhibition 1 July 2022 -
Art can help to overcome the post-colonial Portugal-Africa stigmas
Interview with Graça Rodrigues and João Paulo Sacadura 6 June 2022Interview with Graça Rodrigues, conducted by journalist João Paulo Sacadura for the Portuguese radio station 'Observador' - podcast 'Convidado Extra.' Graça Rodrigues is co-artistic director...Read more