Mabunda, Gonçalo
Born 1975 in Maputo, Mozambique
Lives and works in Maputo, Mozambique
Lives and works in Maputo, Mozambique
Gonçalo Mabunda draws from the collective memory of his country, Mozambique: a country whose long civil war remains ingrained in the memories of its inhabitants. His sculptures give anthropomorphic form to AK47s, rocket launchers, pistols and other objects of destruction - weapons that were recovered in 1992 at the end of a fifteen-year conflict that divided the region. The deactivated weapons of war carry strong political connotations, yet the compositions he creates also convey a positive reflection on the transformative power of art and the resilience and creativity of Mozambique.
Mabunda’s work was included in the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) and Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design (2015–19: Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; CCCB Barcelona and Blanton Museum of Art Austin.
Gonçalo Mabunda, The Fluctuating Throne, 2020, Mixed media, 125 x 103 x 70 cm. Courtesy of Jack Bell Gallery.|Gonçalo Mabunda, 'G8 's victims', 2011, Recycled iron weapons of the civil war (Mozambique), 37 x 33 x 9 cm, Courtesy of Magnin-A
