Wangechi Mutu

Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) is one of the most prominent artists of her generation Over the past two decades, she has put together an extraordinary and multi-faceted body of work, reflecting on ancient and topical issues. Mutu is guided by a keen interest in the history of art and image-making as well as an acute investigation of themes including the female presence, humanity within ecology, gender in politics, and the rhythms and chaos that govern the world.
Mutu was initially recognised for her drawings and collage paintings addressing, in seductive yet grotesque juxtapositions, the myriad forms of violence and misrepresentation of women, especially black African women, over time, her visual vocabulary has expanded to include the subversion of dominant cultural preconceptions. while reinterpreting and uplifting the feminine. Mutu's representation of worlds within worlds and her unique form of myth-making has been internationally acclaimed for its interweaving of facts with fiction, and for the introduction of symbolic characterizations markedly distinct from those that appear in classical history or popular culture.
This has been paralleled by her use of unconventional and culturally significant materials such as tea leaves, synthetic hair, bovine horn, Kenyan soil, feathers, gems and rocks. Born and raised in Nairobi, Wangechi Mutu has attended the United World College of the Atlantic in St. Donets, Wales. the Parsons School of Design and then Cooper Union in New York, where she obtained her BFA in 1996. She had solo exhibitions at major institutions including Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina (2013 and 20221, San Francisco Fine Arts Museum (2021), Metropolitan Museum, New York (2019), Museum of Fine Arts.
Houston (2016), Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2010), Art Gallery of Ontario (2010), and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2009). Mutú s work has been included in exhibitions at international mutilations such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2020), Performs 17, New York (2017), 56th Venice Biennale (2015). Guggenheim Bilbao (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2010), Vancouver Art Gallery (20101 Tate Liverpool (2010), 10th Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon (2009), Studio Museum in Harlem (2008) and Prospect, New Orleans (2000 and 2021) She hau been the recipient of many awards, including the 2016 Cultural Leadership Award and the 2010 Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year Award.
Mutu lives in Nairobi and New York. The book opens with a preface written by Adrienne Edwards. In the interview, Courtney J. Martin talks with the artist about the different stages of her career, from her formative years in Kenya to her decision to relocate to New York, her early international exhibitions and where her art is in the present day. Kellie Jones's Survey is a detailed overview of the artist's work and its cultural significance within contemporary society In the Focus, Chika Okeke-Agulu analyses The End of eating Evervthinq, an animation film the artist made in 2013 Mutús working spaces in Nairobi and New York are documented for the very first time in the Studio Visit chapter Artist's Writings include a new text Art this old medicine.