GONCALO MABUNDA

Mabunda with Bill Clinton in 2017

Born 1975, Maputo, Mozambique

Gonçalo Mabunda is interested in the collective memory of his country, Mozambique, which has only
recently emerged from a long and terrible civil war. He works with arms recovered in 1992 at the end of
the sixteen-year conflict that divided the region.
In his sculpture, he gives anthropomorphic forms to AK47s, rocket launchers, pistols and other objects of
destruction. While the masks could be said to draw on a local history of traditional African art, Mabunda's
work takes on a striking Modernist edge akin to imagery by Braque and Picasso. The deactivated
weapons of war carry strong political connotations, yet the beautiful objects he creates also convey a
positive reflection on the transformative power of art and the resilience and creativity of African civilian
societies.
Mabunda is most well known for his thrones. According to the artist, the thrones function as attributes of
power, tribal symbols and traditional pieces of ethnic African art. They are without a doubt an ironic way of
commenting on his childhood experience of violence and absurdity and the civil war in Mozambique that
isolated his country for a long period.
Mabunda's work has been exhibited at Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf, Hayward Gallery, London,
Pompidou, Paris, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg among
others.

=================-----------
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gonçalo Mabunda was born on January 1, 1975 in Maputo, Mozambique. He is an artist and anti-
war activist. Mabunda has exhibited important museums such as the Center Pompidou in Paris,
the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Art and Design in New York, Gangwon International Biennale,
South Korea, the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf, the Hayward Gallery in London, the Mori Art
Museum in Tokyo, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, Norway Army
Museum, Netherlands Army Museum, Sweden Army Museum and many more.[1]
Mabunda started his work in the context of a project implemented since 1995, by the Christian
Council of Mozambique (CCM) that has been scouring the country and collecting weapons from
individuals and communities after a civil war that lasted almost twenty years. In this project some
weapons are destroyed while others are deactivated and given to men and women like Mabunda, to
sculpt into art. Some 800,000 weapons have been collected since the CCM launched this project,
called Transforming Guns into Hopes.
The name, is inspired by a Bible verse from the book of Micah: 'They will hammer their swords into
ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks'.[2]
Mabunda is a partner artist of the African Artists for Development, an organisation that backs
community development projects associated with works by contemporary artists.
Art

Part of an art installation by Gonçalo Mabunda at the Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Gonçalo Mabunda uses Kalashnikovs, rockets, pistols, and shell casing in order to make
anthropomorphic figures out of the deconstructed weapons. [3] By turning weapons into lifelike figures,
Mabunda literally turns death into life. The figurines are also representative of the over 1 million
people killed during his country's civil war.[4] Mabunda has also lost relatives during the war, which
makes working with and deconstructing weapons used during the 16-year war more important for
him.[5] He makes thrones and masks out of these deactivated weapons used during the Mozambique
Civil War. The masks are based on traditional Sub-Saharan African masks, however, the original
twist on the art form by creating them out of weapons is unique to Mabunda. Representing power,
Mabunda's thrones mock how the traditional power rests on weapons. By using weapons,
Mabunda's work carries the message of how further violence can be prevented, and that destroying
the weapons of war can be done in an aesthetic and artistic way.[6] Mabunda's art directly challenges
the absurdity of war. His work has a modernist style to it and has been compared to the work
of Braque and Picasso.[6]

Reception
Gonçalo Mabunda's artwork has been followed by the international press, French Newspaper Le
Monde, huffingtonPost from the UK[7] are among medias that followed Mabunda's work effect on his
local community.
In 2014, Mabunda was one of 20 African artists to figure in French art collector André Magning
publication African Stories.[8] In 2015, Mabunda's works were the main subject of CNN show Inside
Africa,[9] a TV series highlighting different economic, social and cultural personalities in Africa.
Former US President Bill Clinton, a fan of Mabunda's work, commissioned the artist to create
trophies for his philanthropic organisation the Clinton Global Initiative. [citation needed]
In July 2017, his pieces were shown in the European Parliament in an exhibition organized by
the European Centre for Electoral Support at the occasion of the launch of a handbook produced in
the context of a project funded by the European Union on "Preventing Electoral Conflicts and
Violence in the countries of the Southern African Development Communities" that includes
Mozambique.[citation needed] The launching seminar in the European Parliament was chaired by the
Member of the European Parliament, Judith Sargentini, former Chief Observer to the EU election
observation mission in Mozambique and Tanzania and co-chaired by Alojz Peterle, Member of the
European Parliament, former Chief Observer to the EU election observation mission in Kenya.
====================----------

GONÇALO MABUNDA

Gonçalo Mabunda was born in Maputo, Mozambique in 1975. Mabunda began working at the
Mozambican artists’ collective, Núcleo de Arte, as a gallery assistant, in 1992 and began painting.
He has worked alongside other African artists, such as Andries Botha. Mabunda is still a member of
the Núcleo de Arte collective to this day. 
Mabunda’s art is a call for political and social change, on a
scale that matches the transformation of weapons into pieces of
art.
Civil war broke out in Mozambique in 1977. This civil and social context has had a deep and lasting
impact on Mabunda, both artistically and personally. As Mabunda’s artistic career began, the war
was ending. When the Rome General Peace Accords were being negotiated, with assistance from a
Catholic organisation, Sant’Egidio, the issue arose of how to decommission the weapons, mines,
and shells that were left over from the war. It was estimated that some 7 million guns had been
hidden in the country in the course of the war – disarmament was a massive task.
Sant-Egidio suggested that they are donated to artists, and Núcleo de Arte was chosen. Mabunda
remembers the weapons arriving. “They came and just piled up the guns, you know? So many guns
just piled up outside the house.” Indeed, this highly unusual raw material was to become very
important to him artistically. 
Mabunda took a course in metalworking at the Technikon of Natal, in order to be able to do justice to
his artistic vision. His focus switched from painting, and the guns became his main raw material. For
him, the material already carried a powerful message, even before it was transformed into
art. Through his work, Mabunda had turned thousands of guns and bullets into sculptures and
trophies. These transformative works have propelled him onto the international art scene and made
him one of Africa’s most renowned artists. 
Mabunda’s work featured in the exhibition, Growbox Art Project is made from decommissioned
artillery. He used real, unfired bullets which are from a large collection of weapons that were used or
bought during the Mozambican Civil War. Approximately, 7 million guns were recovered during the
post-war disarmament. Now, Mabunda is concerned about the war against nature and people dying
from malnutrition.

=================-------------
Mabunda draws on the collective memory of his country, Mozambique, which has only recently
emerged from a long and terrible civil war. He works with arms recovered in 1992 at the end of
the sixteen-year conflict that divided the region.
  
In his sculpture, he gives anthropomorphic forms to AK47s, rocket launchers, pistols and other
objects of destruction. While the masks could be said to draw on a local history of traditional
African art, Mabunda’s work takes on a striking Modernist edge akin to imagery by Braque and
Picasso. The deactivated weapons of war carry strong political connotations, yet the beautiful
objects he creates also convey a positive reflection on the transformative power of art and the
resilience and creativity of African civilian societies.
 
Mabunda is most well known for his thrones. According to the artist, the thrones function as
attributes of power, tribal symbols and traditional pieces of ethnic African art. They are without a
doubt an ironic way of commenting on his childhood experience of violence and absurdity and
the civil war in Mozambique that isolated his country for a long period.
 
Mabunda was born in 1975, in Maputo, Mozambique. Recent exhibitions include the Gangwon
International Biennale, South Korea, ‘All the World’s Futures’ at the 2015 Venice Biennale,
‘Making Africa’ at the Vitra Museum, Germany, and 'Africa Now: Political Patterns' at the Seoul
Museum of Art among others. His work has been acquired by the Chazen Museum of Art at
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.

THE ACCOMPLICE OF THE RED, 2020

 THE BENEVOLENT THRONE, 2020

THE BREACH WALKER, 2020

THE COSMETIC THRONE , 2020
The Throne of the Living , 2020

The Boss, 2020

MOZAMBIQUE GONÇALO MABUNDA
Gonçalo Mabunda was born in 1975, in Maputo, during the civil war in Mozambique (1975
-1992). Having been a witness to this violence during his childhood, he first took part in
the social reconstruction of his country by working on a project whose mission was to
exchange weapons for farming tools. Later, he decided to become a memory artist.
 
In 1998, he became a messenger for the Nucleo studio, an art collective made up of a
group of seven young sculptors and the epicenter of art in Maputo. There he met a South
African sculptor, Andries Botha, who he followed to Durban for several months in order to
complete his metal and bronze work training. When he returned to Mozambique, he joined
the project Arms into Art, a project run by a Mozambican Christian organization that
transforms weapons into art pieces.
 
A self-taught artist with a mission to denounce the absurdity of war, he uses old and
abandoned weaponry that he transforms to create thrones, masks and totems.
Kalashnikovs, rockets, guns and bullets decorate his creations.
 
His work is exhibited in numerous museums around the world, including the   Centre
Pompidou, during the famous Africa Remix  exhibition in 2005, the Museum of Art and
Design, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the National Museum of Maputo in
Mozambique and the Vatican Museum. His work also features in many collections,
including one of his works that adorns former US President Bill Clinton’s office.
 
http://www.magnin-a.com/fr/artistes/presentation/858/goncalo-mabunda

Gonç alo Mabunda,

Light at the End of the Tunnel, 2015,
Recycled weapons and metal,
120 x 120 cm,
©Mathieu Lombard
Maputo, Mozambique (CNN)Artists in Mozambique are certainly not lacking
inspiration.

Whether they draw from their colonial past, independence, or the turbulent years of civil
war that followed, many Mozambicans have taken to the canvas to express themselves.
It's no wonder the Mozambican art scene is taking the world by storm.
For Goncalo Mabunda, the 16-year civil war that ended in 1992 provided not only the
muse but the materials for his works. His sculptures -- intricate masks, thrones and
figurines -- are molded from recovered weaponry and military equipment, namely old
landmines, AK-47s and rocket launchers.
Mabunda's work was made possible through the efforts of the Christian Council of
Mozambique, a group of local churches that launched the "Transforming Guns into
Hoes Program", which offers participants tools and building materials in exchange for
recovered weapons.