Born in 1975, Maputo, Mozambique.
Lives and works in Maputo, Mozambique.
Gonçalo Mabunda is a Mozambican artist whose work is deeply rooted in the memory of Mozambique’s recent history, particularly the long and violent civil war that began in the mid-1970s. His childhood was directly marked by the brutality and absurdity of this conflict, an experience that continues to inform his artistic practice.
He works at the Núcleo de Arte studio in Maputo and became involved in 1998 in the project Transforming Weapons into Art Objects, an initiative that repurposed weapons collected after the end of the civil war in 1992. From this material—AK-47s, rocket launchers, pistols, and other instruments of violence—Mabunda constructs sculptural works that give anthropomorphic form to objects of destruction.
He is especially known for his thrones assembled from decommissioned weapons. In many African societies, thrones traditionally symbolize authority, power, and clan or tribal leadership. By reconstructing them from instruments of war, Mabunda introduces a layer of irony: these objects become both seats of power and critical reflections on the absurdity of conflict. Through this gesture, he transforms the legacy of war into a visual language that speaks about memory, trauma, and the fragile reconstruction of post-war Mozambique.
Collections
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
The Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Public Art Norway, Norway
The province Government, Norway
Army Museum, Netherlands
Army Museum, Sweden
Vatican Museums, Vatican
Projustitiae Fundation, Portugal
International Sculpture Park, Beijing, China
National Museum of Uruguay, Uruguay
Tempietto del Carmelo, Roma, Italy
Museum of Saint Etienne, France
Musée international des arts modestes,France
Memorial de Caen, France
National Museum, Mozambique
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New-York, USA
Brooklyn Museum, New-York, USA
Parque da Davesa (Famalicao), Portugal
African Artists for Development, France
Victoria and Albert Museum, Untied Kingdom
