Imanuel Mapeu, from the Nyemba tribe, has lived for thirty years in Mbeyo, a village in the Kavango region a few kilometers from Rundu, a small town on the road to Botswana. His village borders an Air Force base. He lives very poorly on whatever vegetables he trades for other food. To better meet the needs of his family — he has had 6 children — he sculpts all kinds of objects for tourists which he puts up for sale along the national road. But Imanuel Mapeu imprints his personality on these conventional works that can be found by the hundreds in the shops. Apart from the production for tourists, he takes pleasure in making planes, helicopters, cars and trucks in a style that is specific to him, nourished by the daily passage of hundreds of travelers on this busy road and the traffic of the military base. Each object, sculpted in wood, is made of removable parts assembled and held together by means of dowels.He puts long legs on some of his planes and decorates the top with a bomb, perhaps to make them appear more majestic, closer to the sky, making them paradoxically as elegant as waders who would be covered with a top hat.
MAPEU imanuel
