John Ndevasia Muafangejo (1943 -1987): “Marking the legacy that still inspires”

WINDHOEK, OCT. 11 – The National Art Gallery of Namibia announced the exhibition titled: John Ndevasia Muafangejo (1943 -1987): “Marking the legacy that still inspire which opened in the NAGN’s Lower Gallery on 05 October 2018, will be on display until 17 November 2018.
“Marking the legacy (1943 – 1987) that still inspire” is a historical exhibition of John Ndevasia Muafangejo’s artworks from the Permanent Collection of the National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN).

The exhibition traces the tremendous contribution that Muafangejo has made to the development of visual arts in Namibia.

Muafangejo was born in 1943, at Etunda-Lo-Nghadi in southern Angola. At age 15 following his father’s death, him and his mother moved to the Anglican Mission Station at Odibo in northern Namibia.

In 1967 with the support of the Missionary, the promising visual artist enrolled at the Mission’s Art and Craft Centre at Rorke’s Drift in Natal, South Africa. There he studied printmaking, painting, drawing, weaving, and sculpturing; with these skills he became one of the first black trained visual artists in the country.

When he returned to Odibo in 1970, he taught visual art at St. Mary, a local Anglican Mission School. During this period Muafangejo exhibited locally and internationally in South Africa, Canada, Great Britain, and Sweden. In 1977 he left Odibo for Windhoek as a result of the war zone that it had become, for ten years until his death in 1987, Muafangejo lived and worked in Windhoek, Katutura.

Although his artistic career was short-lived, his legacy of print-making still lives on and continues to inspire. Muafangejo’s work echoes his strong religious background, everyday life, his culture, traditions, and socio-political events of that time.

This exhibition combines Muafangejo’s work with that of 9 artists: Lok Kandjengo, Petrus Amuthenu, Kapanda Nangombe, Elia Shiwoohamba, Alpheus Mvula, Shiya Karuseb, Susan Mitchinson, Trudi Dicks and David Amukoto whose techniques reflect inspiration from the late Muafangejo. – NAGN (Picture Credit: Findartinfo.com