But while Dokolo has been fighting groundbreaking battles on the art front, his marriage with dos Santos has come with the kinds of controversy that sometimes overshadowed his work. This has increasingly been the case in the years since her father stepped down from office after 37 years and Angola’s current president, Joao Lourenço has chosen to pursue missing funds and corruption from the previous regime. In January, the assets and bank accounts of Dokolo and dos Santos were frozen. Angola was reportedly attempting to recover $1 billion in state loans it says Isabel dos Santos borrowed and failed to repay during her father’s term as president.

Then Luanda Leaks, a major investigation by Quartz and dozens of other news organizations, in association with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), revealed how dos Santos made much of her money through insider deals, preferential loans, and sweetheart contracts, all fueled by public money.

Dokolo did come under scrutiny during this time, but many of his associates in the art world stood by him.  One of these was Simon Njami, a leading curator of African art in Paris, publicly expressed his support for Dokolo. “Until further notice, what I retain from him is that he has advanced contemporary art in Africa and I keep all my respect for his action.”

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