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Gonzalo Mabunda is considered one of the leading artists in his country, if not on the African continent. He regularly represents Mozambique at the Venice Biennale and the Gangwon Biennale in South Korea. His works have been and continue to be shown in leading collections and museums around the world, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Modern Gallery and the Hayward Gallery in London, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Brooklyn Museum New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Mori Art Museum Tokyo, the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South America, and the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.
Exhibitions and art fairs
2024:
– Sculpture Park, AKKA Project, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
– METAL METAMORPHOSIS, LIS10 Gallery, Paris, France
2023:
– Beyond the borders, This is not a white cube Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
– 10 years – Anniversary exhibition, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Knokke Art Fair, Gallery Kellermann, Knokke, Belgium
– PARAGONE: What’s wrong with the media today?, Lisbon, Portugal
– Rescue Op, This is not a white cube gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2022:
– African Identities, 59th Venice Art Biennale, Venice, Italy
– The chronicler’s throne, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
– (IM)MATERIALITY, Agueda Arts Center, Augueda, Portugal
2021:
– Zurich PopUp Exhibition, AKKA Project, Zurich, Switzerland
– Lost & Found, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Spring Selection, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Night Citizen, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2020:
– Gonçalo Mabunda in The Foundry, Foundry, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
– Deep Insights, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– The Urban Landscape, AKKA Project, Venice, Italy
2019:
– National Pavilion of Mozambique, 58th Venice Art Biennale, Venice, Italy
– Orator of time, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2018:
– Game of thrones, AKKA Project, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
– Rassemblement, group exhibition, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
– The messenger, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2017:
– Devil in disguise, group exhibition, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
– Emperor of the sands, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2016:
– Le penseur, group exhibition, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
– Manuscripts, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2015:
– Studio Lumiere: 10 contemporary artists living and working in Africa, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2013:
– When I get green, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2012:
– New Work, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Museums and collections
– Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
– Tate Modern Gallery, London, United Kingdom
– Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom
– Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
– Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
– PAC Padigione d´Arte Contemporanea, Mailand, Italy
– Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
– Musée Mohammed VI d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Rabat, Morocco
– MACAAL, Marrakesch, Morocco
– Museum of Modern Art Utrecht, Netherlands
– Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lissabon, Portugal
– Museum Abilio de Mattos e Silva, Obidos, Portugal
– Jean Pigozzi Collection, Genf, Switzerland
– Chateau de Penthes, Genf, Switzerland
– Dak´art African Contemporary Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal
– Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
– Cape Town International Convention Center, Kapstadt, South Africa
– Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
– Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, USA
– Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
– Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
– Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C., USA
Goncalo Armando Mabunda was born in Mozambique in 1975, the same year that Mozambique gained its independence from Portugal after 500 years of colonial rule. The country subsequently experienced a 16-year civil war in which over 1 million civilians were killed.
Goncalo Mabunda transforms weapons into art
Goncalo grew up in the midst of the bloody civil war; some of his family members were killed. In his unique art, he uses the scrapped weapons of the civil war – pistols, cartridges, grenades, rocket launchers, and Kalashnikovs – and transforms them into humorous and profound works of art as a collective memory of his country. His main motifs are typically African: masks and thrones, the ancient symbols of African culture. The throne is a symbol of power, and masks are traditionally used to fight evil spirits – in Mabunda’s case, the spirits of war.
Mabunda virtuously transforms the now harmless weapons into powerful works of art, thus turning the original task of destruction into a positive creative energy. Mabunda’s works are simultaneously contemporary witnesses, traditional cult objects, and symbols of a modern Africa full of creativity. They ironically comment on the absurdity of war and are a strong statement for peace.
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