during the last years of the colonial period, mozambican art showed the oppression by the colonial power, and became a symbol of the resistance. after independence in 1975, the modern art came into a new phase. the two best known and most influential contemporary mozambican artists are the painter malangatana ngwenya and the sculptor alberto chissano. art during the 1980s and 1990s shows the political struggle, civil war, suffering, starvation and struggle.