ERNESTO SHIKHANI | A CHAVE DE PAPA PARA AFRIKA (THE POPES KEY FOR AFRIKA)

Private Collection, Mozambique

Acquired from the above by the present owner 

Shikhani first began exhibiting his work in 1968 in pre-independence Maputo, Mozambique, followed by international study and exhibition through scholarships from the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1973, and the former USSR in 1982. Presenting himself as strongly nationalist, Ernesto Shikhani always pursued ideals of freedom in his work. Painted in 1988, at the height of the Civil War, A Chave De Papa Para Afrika is a critical commentary on Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to Mozambique and nine other Southern African countries (while demonstratively avoiding apartheid South Africa), at a time when the Catholic Church was seeing tremendous growth on the African continent. Despite the war, massive congregations attended and the Mozambican National Resistance RENAMO reached local ceasefires and agreements to maintain electricity supply to honour the visit. Some of the seeds for the Rome peace process were laid during this trip — especially as it also represented a formal reconciliation of FRELIMO, the ruling party, with the Catholic Church.