Between 1961 and 1986, the contexts in which artists could train and practice in
Mozambique radically shifted. During the country’s transition from overseas
territory of Portugal’s quasi-fascist Estado Novo regime, to Marxist-Leninist
vanguard state, to neo-liberal democracy, expressions of international solidarity
with the Mozambique liberation front (FRELIMO) generated dynamic flows of
people, objects and ideas into and out of the country. This state of flux produced a
range of opportunities for artists, as well as contingent expectations for the role of
their work in the new nation. Understanding art education and patronage as both
an apparatus of power and a locus of transnational exchange, this thesis focuses on
the experience of three artists who navigated this shifting terrain: Malangatana
(1936-2011), João Craveirinha (born 1947) and Celestino ‘Cejuma’ Matavele (born
1959). Whilst these artists all articulated, in different ways, the struggle against
colonialism and their vision for a future nation, their approaches often ran counter
to the prevailing political discourse and aesthetic pedagogies. Ultimately, I argue
that this dissonance reveals how deeply the parameters for art in Mozambique
were contested by artists during this time.