Gonçalo Mabunda

Gonçalo Mabunda was born in 1975 in Mozambique and currently lives and works in Maputo. He is interested in the collective memory of his country, which only recently emerged from a long and devastating civil war. He works with weapons recovered in 1992, at the end of the sixteen-year conflict that divided the nation. Mabunda gives anthropomorphic forms to AK-47s, rocket launchers, pistols, and other instruments of destruction. These deactivated weapons carry powerful political connotations and offer a positive reflection on the transformative power of art and the resilience and creativity of African civil societies.

Mabunda is best known for his thrones, which he describes as attributes of power, tribal symbols, and traditional pieces of African art. They serve as an ironic commentary on his childhood experience of violence and the war that kept his country isolated for many years.

Gonçalo was selected for the exhibition “All the World’s Futures” at the Biennale Arte Venezia 2015, and in 2019 he was among the artists representing Mozambique at its National Pavilion. In 2021, six totems created by the artist were included in the permanent collection of the American Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique.