Journeys Malangatana, 90 Years - Practice, Memory and Catharsis

On 6 June 2026, the Mozambican artist Malangatana (Matalana, 1936 – Matosinhos, 2011) would have turned 90. The date is marked in Mozambique and Portugal simultaneously with the project “Malangatana, 90 years – Practice, Memory and Catharsis”. Promoted in partnership by the Malangatana Valente Ngwenya Foundation and Lusófona University, through its Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture and New Technologies (CICANT), the project proposes a vast and diverse programme of activities in both countries.

The project “Malangatana, 90 years – Practice, Memory and Catharsis”, more than a symbolic evocation, aims to constitute the first milestone of a structural programme that includes pedagogical practices, scientific and artistic research, and heritage dissemination and consolidation, acting as a laboratory for cultural policy and diplomacy with a view to the international projection of the Mozambican artist's figure and work. Inaugurating a cycle of a decade of continuous work towards the preparation of Malangatana's Centenary in 2036, the project is organised into six fundamental pillars — Audiovisual, Events, Exhibition, Research, Pedagogical and Performative — linked together by a transversal strategy of knowledge production and diffusion, heritage safeguarding, mobilisation of civil society entities and attraction of cultural patronage.

In Portugal, the celebrations of the master's 90th anniversary included a preview on 19 March, with a session held at the Cineteatro João Verde in Monção, and will officially launch with a set of productions developed in partnership with Mira Galerias in Porto.

Programme

11 April 2026

• 4:00 pm | Opening of the Exhibition "Mozambican Twilight" - Espaço Mira (on display from 11 April to 23 May: Wednesday to Saturday, between 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm)
• 5:00 pm | Presentation by the curators: Lurdes Macedo and Manuel Santos Maia
• 5:30 pm | Conversation with Malangatana's family and friends

Description: This exhibition starts from Malangatana's multifaceted personality to lead visitors through the contexts and sociabilities that inspired or were inspired by the artist in the different stages of his life. To achieve a memory capable of encompassing the dynamic totality of Malangatana's legacy, the exhibition will display works by the artist, by artists with whom he became friends, and by young Mozambican artists; pieces of memorabilia, documentary collections and folk art from southern Mozambique, where the artist was born; historical and rare bibliographic works documenting the social, cultural and political contexts in which the artist actively participated; and finally, a documentary on Malangatana's life and work, which will be presented on a loop.

15 April

• 3:00 pm | Final-year students of the Undergraduate Degree in Dramatic Arts from Lusófona University - Porto University Centre will perform a dramatised reading session of poetry by Mozambican authors - Espaço Mira

9 May

• 4:00 pm | Launch and presentation of the book Malangatana: The Eye of the Crocodile, by Richard Gray - Mira Fórum

6 June

• 4:00 pm | Celebration of the artist's 90th anniversary, with the screening of the documentary: On Malangatana's Trail: from Legacy to Memory, by Lurdes Macedo, followed by a conversation between the director and the participants - Mira Fórum

More information

The Malangatana Session – Practice, Memory and Catharsis will also take place at Mira Fórum, within the framework of the II Summer School of African Studies in Portuguese of CICANT (Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture and New Technologies) of Lusófona University - Porto University Centre.

The programming for the second half of 2026 is under preparation and will be announced shortly; it will include the XXIV Art Biennial of Vila Nova de Cerveira and various cultural spaces in Lisbon,