On 27 November 1987, Namibian artist John Ndevasia Muafangejo died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Katutura Township, Windhoek. He was 44 years old.
Muafangejo was born on 5 October 1943 in Etunda lo Nghadi, Ovamboland, Angola. He came from the Kwanyama people and spent his childhood tending cattle in his father's kraal. After his father's death in 1955, his mother moved to the Anglican mission station at Epinga in South West Africa (now Namibia), where John joined her in 1957 and began his formal education.
His artistic talent was recognised at St Mary's Anglican Mission in Odibo, and in 1967 he enrolled at the Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. There, under the mentorship of Azaria Mbatha, he developed his distinctive approach to linocut printmaking. He graduated in 1969 and returned to teach art at Odibo until 1974, when he became artist-in-residence at Rorke's Drift.
Muafangejo gained international recognition, exhibiting at the Camden Arts Centre in London (1969), the São Paulo Biennale (1971), and the Brooklyn Museum (1976). British art critic Edward Lucie-Smith described him as "consistently the best of all the modern masters" of printmaking. His powerful black and white linocuts depicted scenes from ovaKwanyama history and culture, often incorporating text with gentle humour.
He did not live to see Namibian independence in 1990. The John Muafangejo Art Centre was established in Windhoek in his honour.
References
- Scott-Berning, S., (2011). 'John Ndevasia Muafangejo (1943 - 1987)' from LifewithArt [online] Available at www.lifewithart.com [Accessed 27 November 2025]
- Wikipedia, (2025). 'John Muafangejo' [online] Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muafangejo [Accessed 27 November 2025]