Gonçalo Mabunda: Ex Africa Semper Aliquid Novi
Past exhibition
Mabunda reinvents traditional African masks and with a skillful assemblage, the weapon loses its original connotation and bullets bombs and magazines are transformed into funny and whimsical masks.
The Kyo Noir Studio inaugurates a series of exhibitions entitled "Ex Africa semper aliquid novi" the quote by Pliny the Elder, which translated from Latin means from Africa always something new, will be the incipit to make the general public delve deeper into contemporary African art and artists, already protagonists of the international art scene in recent years. The first Focus on is on Mozambican sculptor Gonçalo Mabunda. He was one of the protagonists of Africa Remix and is back at the Centre Pompidou in Paris with the exhibition "Une histoire. Art architecture design des anées 1980 à nos jours," present at the last Venice Biennale by Okwui Enwezor is currently at the CCCB in Barcelona with "Making Africa" and at the Palazzo Reale in Milan with 'A Brief History of the Future." Gonçalo Mabunda makes masks, sculptures and thrones out of unusual objects such as Kalashnikovs, bombs, guns and other weapons used during Mozambique's civil war (1976-1992), later deactivated by an NGO and turned into works of art by the artist.
Mabunda reinvents traditional African masks and with a skillful assemblage, the weapon loses its original connotation and bullets bombs and magazines are transformed into funny and whimsical masks. With thrones, Mabunda represents power, the imposing, authoritative and majestic object dominates the space in its magnificence, but with the appellation peace it becomes the bearer of a positive meaning the "Throne of Peace" donated in 2002 to Pope John Paul II, expresses Mozambique's willingness to say no to war by destroying its weapons to make them into works of art. The weapons are transformed into objects, the various components of the Kalashnikov become the backs or arms of the throne, the bombs the feet and the bullets decorative bangs, all the negative connotations, the idea of violence and death take on a new meaning, Mabunda's message seems to be: let us not destroy, but transform, let us not erase, but redesign a new world of peace with weapons so as not to forget the brutality of war.
