Malangatana Ngwenya

Gifted directly from the artist to NRK Norway National Broadcast Station on the occasion of NRK Telethon Charity Auction on behalf of UNICEF, 2007

Acquired from the above charity sale by the present owner

The present lot showcases the signature style which quickly distinguished Malangatana’s practice: endless humans, animal and supernatural bodies are contorted and compressed within the composition. The violence of the scene is only heightened by the blood red and flesh pink tones which dominate the colour palette of this work. Malangatana manages to maintain an overall balance and lyricism to the composition despite the fact that almost each individual figure appears mutilated by an explosive force which flattens both the figures and the composition. There is no sense of perspective or spatial recession. Malangatana’s figures hang in space, held together by the weight of one another.

Malangatana was a politically active and art historically significant Mozambican artist. He is one of the only artists to gain international recognition despite remaining in Africa for the majority of his life. He was an enigmatic figure, known also for his adeptness in songwriting, poetry, and dance. Malangatana placed his life and work in service to the decolonial movement in Mozambique. He joined the Mozambican liberation movement FRELIMO in 1964, and in that same year was imprisoned by the Portuguese secret police. During this period, Malangatana’s production makes consistent and unmistakable references to the brutality of the colonial campaign his movement fought to bring down.