Damian Boniface K. Msagula (Tanzania, 1939 - 2005)

Born in 1939 in Ntanda, Masasi District Mtwara Region, of Yao tribe parents, Msagula started his primary education in Lindi.  Still a teenager, he had to leave his family to look after himself.  He did several odd jobs en route to Dar-es-Salaam, and when TANU (political party that worked for independence) was recruiting there, Msagula cheated on his age (he was not yet 18 years old as required) to be able to join as a member.  After Independence Msagula was active in the "Ujamaa" policy of a return to the village, self-reliance and solidarity.  In 1972 he was selling fruits and vegetables from the Tanga region at the Morogoro Stores and entered in contact with the Tingatinga zrtists.  The next year Msagula joined them and started to paint.  A couple of years later he left the group to paint on his own.  From the very naive renderings of the beginning, Msagula has developed a unique style centred on the village as the root of African culture, knowledge of Nature, respect of the ancestors and their spirits.  

(adapted from biography in Tinga Tinga:  The Popular Paintings from Tanzania, by Yves Goscinny.  Dar es Salaam, c. 2003)