George Lilanga

George Lilanga (1934–27 June 2005) was a Tanzanian artist. He was of the Makonde tribe and lived in Dar es Salaam. His work was exhibited in international expositions of African contemporaries including Africa Remix in Düsseldorf, Paris, London and Tokyo.

The exact place and date of Lilanga's birth are unknown although he said that he was born in 1934 in the village of Kikwetu, Masasi district, in the Mtwara Region of southern Tanzania.

Lilanga's parents were both Makonde (an ethnic group originating in Mozambique). His father was an agricultural labourer who worked on the sisal plantations and he had two brothers who died before him. His father left the family and married another woman. George and his family later moved to the city of Lutamba, in southern Tanzania, on the border with Mozambique.

Here Lilanga went to grammar school for four. Lilanga, in the works of his last years of life, which were dedicated to village life, returned many times to the representation of the happy moments when grammar and secondary school students received their diplomas. Shortly afterwards, he had his first contact with sculpture (roots, softwood and, later, hard ebony), working in the Makonde tradition. He dedicated himself almost exclusively to this technique from 1961 until 1972. He showed his first works to Europeans who worked in the refugee camps during Mozambique's war of independence. Following their advice, in 1970 Lilanga decided to move to Dar es Salaam, where there were greater opportunities for selling sculptures.

In 1971, George got his first job, thanks to his uncle, Augustino Malaba, an already well-known sculptor who would be his future collaborator. He worked as a night guard at the House of Art (Nyumba ya Sanaa), a typical African center for the development of art and craftsmanship. Lilanga's talents were soon recognised by Jean Pruitt. George Lilanga welcomed to Nyumba ya Sanaa to join other artists like Robino Ntila, Augustino Malaba and Patrick Francis Imanjama. He began to create batiks, works on goatskin and on sheets of iron for the finishing of railings and gates.

Lilanga frequented the art circles of the Tingatinga school. Around 1972 he became essentially a painter. Some of his works were presented at Dar es Salaam's National Museum in 1974.

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