Various: Troubled Comradeship in the Arts

Spector Books, 2025, softcover, 112 pages, 17 x 28 cm 

What makes a story worth telling? The stories assembled in this Research Edition, which forms part of the project “Entangled Internationalism,” are about the painter Mankew V. Mahumana and the theatre director David Abílio Mondlane, two artists from Mozambique who traveled and practiced their art in the German Democratic Republic during the 1980s. In cities such as Rostock, Schwerin, Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin, they engaged with, and challenged, the official East German art sphere. Today, most stories about Mozambique speak of its untapped natural resources and the violent internal conflicts associated with them. The stories that this Research Edition wants to bring to the fore instead are those of two young artists who sought an active role in the decolonization of the arts after their country’s independence. They are about hope, confidence, and courage. They are also about what was then called “comradeship” and the cooperation between two socialist countries. Using conversations, pictures, personal letters, and official reports, we highlight the perspectives of Mozambican and East German actors involved in this exchange and depict the institutional framework in which it was situated.

Lea Marie Nienhoff is a researcher, cultural worker, and theater pedagogue based in Germany. Ambre Alfredo is a researcher, architect, and urban planner from Mozambique. Alda Costa is an art historian, museologist, researcher, and cultural worker from Mozambique.