1936-1953: Malangatana Valente Ngwenya born June 6, in Matalana, Marracuene district, was a Mozambican artist and poet, known internationally by his first name "Malangatana", who produced works in various media, from drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, murals, poetry and music

 

 

 

 

He spent his childhood helping his mother on the farm while attending the Swiss Protestant mission school, where he learned to read and write, and, after its closure, the Catholic mission school, completing the third grade in 1948.

 

 

At the age of 12, he moved to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in search of work, practicing various trades and eventually, in 1953, finding work as a ball boy at a tennis club, which allowed him to resume his studies, attending night classes that awakened his interest in the arts, where he had as a master the architect Garizo do Carmo. One of the members of the tennis club, Augusto Cabral, offered him painting material and helped him sell his first works.

 

 

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1958: He joined the Núcleo de Arte, a local artistic organization, receiving support from the painter Zé Júlio. The following year, he exhibited his art publicly, for the first time, in a collective exhibition, becoming a professional artist thanks to the support offered by the Portuguese architect Pancho Guedes, by lending him a space where he could create his studio, and by purchasing two paintings monthly.

 

 

1961: At the age of 25, he had his first solo exhibition at the Banco Nacional Ultramarino.

 

1963-66: He published some of his poems in the newspaper "Orfeu Negro" and was included in the "Anthology of Modern African Poetry".

At that time, he is accused as a member of FRELIMO, being arrested at Machava jail until he is acquitted on March 23rd, 1966. The exhibition Malangatana - The Prison Years, held in Lisbon, counts as "prison years" also those that followed the imprisonment, and in which Malangatana continued to represent him.

 

1971: On January 4 he was arrested again in order to clarify the symbolism of the painting "September 25", recently exhibited at the Núcleo de Arte, which put his departure to Portugal at risk, where he had obtained a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation to study engraving and ceramics.

 

 

1976/1977: Malangatana was detained in a re-education center as punishment for his behavior during colonial times. At the same time, a work of his was presented at Facim (Maputo Fair) and at an art exhibition organized by the Centro Organizativo dos Artistas Plásticos e Artesãos, based at the former Núcleo de Arte, which was given by his wife.

 

1990: After the independence of Mozambique, he was elected deputy for FRELIMO.

 

1998: Elected to the Maputo Municipal Assembly and reelected in 2003. Participated in literacy actions and in the organization of communal villages in Nampula Province. He was one of the founders of the "Mozambican Movement for Peace" and was part of the "Artists of the World against Apartheid".

 

2011: Death on January 5th at Pedro Hispano Hospital, in Matosinhos, Portugal.