Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-born artist who has established her brand in modern and contemporary art globally.
Born in 1972 on the outskirts of Nairobi, Mutu obtained her first education in a Catholic convent school, before she went to Europe and then, the US.
While crafting her niche and her drive to tell African stories, Mutu studied fine arts, design, and anthropology.
However, her journey was not all flowery. After a year of studying at the Parsons School of Design, she realized that she could not afford to pay the tuition fee. She was on the verge of dropping out but returning to Kenya was not an option.
She took a leap of faith and applied to Cooper Union, a private, tuition-free college in New York. Mutu landed the chance which spurred her dream of greatness.
Starting to Gain Fame
In 2019, The Metropolitan Museum commissioned a series of sculptures for their facade from Mutu. Given the building design, Mutu’s first thought was to create caryatides—figures of women holding the walls like columns.
However, she adapted the concept by sculpting figures of African women wearing garments inspired by the traditional dress of several African tribes. By doing so, she subverted the colonial narrative of art history, positioning African imagery and iconography in a place that is traditionally reserved for Western beauty standards. Her figures served as the guardians of knowledge and legacy of the whole of humanity, celebrating its previously omitted aspects.
In March 2023, The New Museum in New York City brought together over one hundred works from Mutu to display her excellence for over 25 years.
The museum was reserved for Mutu who showed the entire city how she used different forms of art to tell various stories.
It encompassed painting, collage, drawing, sculpture, film, and performances.
Besides doing a solo exhibition in the New Museum, other States in the US have also honored Mutu by displaying her art in different areas.
Today, Wangechi Mutu is known as a sculptor and performance artist, but her artistic career started with collages and assemblages.
At the start of her career, she could not afford to buy artistic material, so she often experimented with found objects by extracting and transforming their meanings.
She is now a global icon inspiring generations through art.
