#wangechimutu

[arthistoriansdiary]

The NewOnes, will free Us

Wangechi Mutu, The NewOnes, will free Us (2019). Bronze. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Wangechi Mutu's sculptures, The NewOnes, will free Us, represent a pivotal moment for both contemporary art and the storied façade of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. These sculptures are the first to adorn the Met’s exterior niches, a space initially intended but never before used for sculpture. In this post, we explore the rich layers of meaning and cultural significance behind Mutu’s work.

Unveiling Modern Caryatids: Mutu's Vision on the Met's Façade

In 2019, Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu was invited to create four sculptures for the Met's façade. Her work, titled The NewOnes, will free Us, consists of four bronze figures that serve as modern caryatids—an ancient architectural form where sculpted female figures replace columns or pillars. These sculptures not only support the physical structure but also carry deep symbolic weight, challenging historical narratives and celebrating transformation and empowerment.

Adornment as Empowerment: The Symbolism of Mutu's Sculptures

The figures are meticulously crafted from bronze, their surfaces textured with patterns that suggest fine jewelry and elaborate headdresses, conveying regality and resilience. Mutu’s caryatids are adorned in such a way that they command respect, reflecting the strength and complexity of women, particularly those from African cultures. This use of traditional adornment techniques highlights the dignity and elevated status of these figures.

Challenging Historical Narratives: Mutu at The Met

Mutu’s sculptures delve into themes of gender, race, and history, with a particular focus on the role of women as both cultural bearers and modern individuals carving new paths. By placing these figures on the façade of one of the world’s leading art institutions, Mutu challenges the traditional Western narrative and integrates African women into a historical dialogue from which they have been largely absent.

The Impact of The NewOnes: A New Precedent for Art in Public Spaces

The installation was widely praised for its aesthetic beauty and its powerful commentary on social issues. As the inaugural artwork for the Met’s façade commission series, Mutu's The NewOnes, will free Us sets a transformative precedent for how art can influence public spaces and cultural institutions toward more inclusive narratives.

Reflecting on Power and Presence: The Lasting Influence of Mutu's Work

Wangechi Mutu’s work is a bold reimagining of the caryatid figure, transforming it into a symbol of empowerment and change. Her sculptures encourage viewers to reconsider the roles traditionally assigned to women in both art and society and to appreciate the dynamic contributions of African cultures to the global historical narrative.

Your Thoughts?

How do you perceive the intersection of art and social change, especially in public and historically significant spaces like The Met?

#WangechiMutu #TheMet #ContemporaryArt #FeministArt #PublicArt #CulturalDialogue #ArtAndSociety #AfricanArtists #SculptureArt #artblogger #arthistory

[mylifeintrailers]

For those of you considering a Tarot Deck on #midjourney or comparable Artificial Intelligence image generator, I have a tip for you: change just one of your text prompts from “King” to “Queen” and #abracadabra you’re done! Just like with my King archive I’m gonna post 10 Queens here and need your help identifying Swords, Wands, Coins & Cups. As with the Kings, if I’m short any, I’ll post another round, or two, from my now similarly massive but awesome Queen mage archive 🫶🏿👸🏿🫶🏿Reminder Note: I have no intent on using any of these images beyond these posts. #midjourney #midjourneyai #midjourneyart #wangechimutu #tarot #tarotcards #tarotreadersofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/ClVWu-Lr1IL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#midjourney #abracadabra #midjourneyai #midjourneyart #wangechimutu #tarot #tarotcards #tarotreadersofinstagram

[priyasebastian]

“They Eat Because You Grow the Food”

Wangechi Mutu’s Words of Wisdom for Struggling Artists

The sharpening of visual intelligence is crucial for artists. I would recommend drawing—and by this, I don’t mean drawing in a pedantic, high-school, instructional manner; I mean using your hand and your mind to pull out information from the subconscious onto a surface and into the real world. It is one of the best ways to shorten the distance between your brain and your fingertips and to allow you to gauge what is going on from within yourself. When you speed up that process, by drawing with as basic a material as pencil or charcoal, or ink and brush, your senses of intuition, honesty and integrity are sharpened.

I would also push every artist to enhance their sense of context and their role as artists by visiting museums or the theatre, going to poetry readings, hanging out at DJ slams, listening to live bands—to participate in and enter cultural spaces in one way or another. Figuring out what’s happening in other genres and media in your particular moment in time is important to you as a visual artist because even if you don’t feel it’s relevant to you, making cross-references makes you aware of your own position and place, your aliveness at that particular moment in time. 

So, in any professional context, never see yourself as a thing in need of salvation. Always insist on your inherent value and distinct role. They eat because you grow the food.

From an interview by Wangechi Mutu in ARTSPACE

#wangechimutu

[abwwia]

Wangechi Mutu, “Yo Mama,” 2003. Ink, mica flakes, acrylic, pressure-sensitive film, cut-and- pasted printed paper, and painted paper on paper, diptych, overall 59 1/8 × 85 inches; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, 2005; photo by Robert Edemeyer, courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles.

#WangechiMutu #YoMama #artist #artbywomen #palianshow #womensart #artherstory

#Wangechi Mutu #art by women #palianshow #art #kenyan art

[dbguidebook]

DARLING BONNIE'S ART HOUSE: ((Side Notes Courtesy Of ))- NEW MUSEUM:

"#WangechiMutu used illustrations from a nineteenth-century medical folio of diseases of female sexual organs to create striking, moribund portraits of women." #SOCIETYTHINGS

#darling #darling bonnie #darling bonnie land #high class hip hop #high street culture #art #culture #style #lifestyle #lifestyle blog #music #music blog #art house #artist #creative #wangechi mutu #beauty #women #women empowerment #women artists #chic #glamour #societythings #darling society

[suzylwade]

In the Black Fantastic ‘Afrofuturism’ is a sub-genre that takes aim at the heart of racial injustice. This exhibition celebrates the Black artists who wield that utopian weapon. ‘In the Black Fantastic’ at ‘Hayward Gallery’ uses sci-fi to imagine a future beyond inequality, beyond racism, in a powerful and affecting fashion. ‘In the Black Fantastic’ starts with Nick Cave (not that one) and his wearable sculptures, first created in response to the brutal police murder of Rodney King in LA in 1991. They’re fantastical, glittery, hyper-colour costumes that allow the wearer to transform themselves, to sculpt and define their identity, obscuring their race and gender. They’re defiant, empowering and brazen. Wangechi Mutu also makes art to destroy hierarchies, with watery collages of hybrid beings that exist behind tropes and stereotypes. Then there’s Hew Locke’s Black warriors on horseback, elaborate militaristic figures that look like statues of future generals, and Tabita Rezaire’s psychedelic mirrored room with its pyramid glistening in the centre. Downstairs is young American artist Sedrick Chisom’s incredible visions of a post-apocalyptic future earth where all people of colour have left and the skin of those who remain has started to darken. They’re funny, threatening, imposing paintings, humming with satirical tension. Upstairs are Chris Ofili’s enormous mythology-inspired paintings of the Odyssey transplanted to Trinidad and Ellen Gallagher’s subaquatic visions of Drexciya, the Black Atlantis. ‘In the Black Fantastic’, ‘Hayward Gallery’ until September 18, 2022. #neonurchin #neonurchinblog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #suzyurchin #ollyurchin #art #music #photography #fashion #film #design #words #pictures #love #afrofuturism #nickcave #soundsuits #chainreaction #sedrickchisom #ellengallagher #wangechimutu #tabitarezaire #chrisofili #karawalker #blackexperience #blackhistory #vision #poetry #haywardgallery #intheblackfantasic (at Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfn9ImHIwgy/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#neonurchin #neonurchinblog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #suzyurchin #ollyurchin #art #music #photography #fashion #film #design #words #pictures #love #afrofuturism #nickcave #soundsuits #chainreaction #sedrickchisom #ellengallagher #wangechimutu #tabitarezaire #chrisofili #karawalker #blackexperience #blackhistory #vision #poetry #haywardgallery #intheblackfantasic

[trascapades]

🎨🎶🎙#ArtIsAWeapon

🔥 Reposted from @djreborn I love the opportunity to be in public discourse with fellow artists about our process, practice and praxis. Come check out the conversation about the brilliant @wangechistudio work and her connection to music with yours truly @sanfordbiggers @toschoon @sharpwhitebackground @margotnorton and maureenmahon Today May 20th 3pm

From #Afrobeat to #Afrofuturism, explore the unique combination of African diasporic music and #WangechiMutu’s artistic practice with Mutu x Music – an afternoon of conversations with curators and musicians on Saturday, May 20 at 3 p.m. at @newmuseum.

“Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined” co-curators Vivian Crockett (@sharpwhitebackground) and Margot Norton (@margotnorton) will kick off the afternoon in conversation with Trevor Schoonmaker (@toschoon), Director of the Nasher Museum, to reflect on the twentieth anniversary of Mutu’s “Yo Mama,” a large-scale collage work celebrating the life and activism of Fela Kuti’s mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Scholar and catalog contributor Maureen Mahon will also moderate a panel discussion on the political charge of African and diasporic music genres from 1970s Afrobeat to contemporary Hip Hop, featuring artist Sanford Biggers (@sanfordbiggers) and musician DJ Reborn (@djreborn).

Event information and ticketing:

[https://www.newmuseum.org/calendar/view/1913/mutu-x-music-afrobeat-hip-hop-funk-and-the-art-of-wangechi-mutu]

#MutuXMusic #BlackGirlArtGeeks

[artbookdap]

We are loving the new @hyperallergic monthly guide to the best English-language art books, in partnership with @bookshop_org in support of small booksellers! Props to Lakshmi Amin for this first list, including three of our favorite recent releases:⁠ ⁠ 'I Am Sparkling: N.V. Parekh and His Portrait Studio Clients, Mombasa, Kenya, 1940–1980' by @isolde_brielmaie with text by @wangechimutu @wangechistudio and published by @damiani_books⁠ Mallory Cohen writes: "These images pose potent questions about the problematic conflation of whiteness and modernity, and the racist colonial ideals that persisted amidst the fanfare of the independence era."⁠ ⁠ Cyberfeminism Index, edited with introduction by @mindyseu Foreword by Julianne Pierce of @vns_matrix Afterword by @ellerustle published by @inventorypress⁠ An index in the true sense of the word, more than 1,000 excerpts from existing writing on feminist approaches to technology and media provide countless entry points into this complex body of thought, spanning 1991 to 2020.… interrogates the corporeal, racialized, queered possibilities of the digital and technological. ⁠ ⁠ @betyesaar Black Doll Blues with foreword by Julie Roberts. Text by Rachel Federman, Katherine Jentleson. Interview by @maddy_inez and published by @robertsprojects⁠ In the midst of the 2020 pandemic lockdown, assemblage artist Betye Saar took to the medium of watercolor. [These are gathered here, along with] earlier works, interviews, and reflections on the personal and political significance of … her collection of Black dolls.⁠ ⁠ Read the full reviews via linkinbio.⁠ ⁠ @laxmiamin17 @juliealisonroberts #hyperallergicbestbooks https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpc4TV3uOAY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#hyperallergicbestbooks

[barbarapicci]

“MamaRay” (Bronze, 2020) by  #WangechiMutu @wangechistudio #scultura #sculpture #installationview #bronzesculpture #cultureisfreedom #artisfreedom #curiositykilledtheblogger #artblogging #photooftheday #artaddict #artistsoninstagram #amazing #artwork #instacool #instaart #followart #artlover #contemporaryart #artecontemporanea #artmuseum #artcurator #artwatchers #artcollectors #artdealer #arthistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CYpLqNKoFr0/?utm_medium=tumblr

#wangechimutu #scultura #sculpture #installationview #bronzesculpture #cultureisfreedom #artisfreedom #curiositykilledtheblogger #artblogging #photooftheday #artaddict #artistsoninstagram #amazing #artwork #instacool #instaart #followart #artlover #contemporaryart #artecontemporanea #artmuseum #artcurator #artwatchers #artcollectors #artdealer #arthistory

[moma-prints]

Untitled from Eve, Wangechi Mutu, 2006, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Linda Barth Goldstein Fund Size: composition and sheet (irreg.): 10 1/4 × 7 5/8" (26 × 19.3 cm) Medium: Etching and aquatint with collage additions from a portfolio of five etchings (two with aquatint and collage additions, one with collage additions) and three aquatints (two with collage additions)

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/107906

#museumarchive #wangechimutu #museumofmodernart

[bm-contemporary-art]

Eat Cake, Wangechi Mutu, 2012, Brooklyn Museum: Contemporary Art

© Wangechi Mutu Medium: Video installation, beta master tape and two viewing copy Blu-ray discs, loop, 12 minutes 45 seconds; wooden pallets

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/214447

#brooklynmuseum #contemporaryart #wangechimutu #museumarchive

[gabrielle-distin-artist]

As I now start to fully evaluate my body of work, I’m also reflecting on and further researching some of the artists who had an influence on my project early on. These photos are of the work of Wangechi Mutu @wangechistudio, the sculpture, The NewOnes will Free Us, is one that I saw in one of the niches at the entrance to The Met in February and the other is a collage, One Hundred Lavish Months of Bushwhack. Mutu has described women as ‘sensitivity charts’ - ‘their bodies functioning as barometers, tracking the health, or more often the sickness, of any given society’s own body politic’. The core of her work are ‘notions of female transformation and empowerment’. #wangechimutu #strodefad #strodecollege #strodecollegeartdepartment #artistresearch https://www.instagram.com/p/CADZydLlhit/?igshid=ex90hzb6x6h2

#wangechimutu #strodefad #strodecollege #strodecollegeartdepartment #artistresearch

[mylifeintrailers]

For most of my adult life I’ve turned to the Tarot whenever I don’t know what to do next. Naturally for my 4th #midjourney #wangechimutu fueled text prompt tarot card showcase, I drew a card for direction and it wasn’t one I had in my collection, the King of Swords. I decided “no worries” & spent the day generating a set King images but ran into an unusual problem along the way. It’s nearly impossible to put an unambiguous blade in the hand of an African King or Chief seated on a thrown in #midjourney. Putting Excalibur in the hand of King Arthur, effortless??? This problem led me down a rabbit hole with dozens upon dozens of Kings. I’ll spare you my conspiracy theories but I’m very interested if anybody out there can explain this to me🤯 Anyhow, I’m gonna post 10 of them here and need your help identifying Swords, Wands, Coins & Cups. If I’m short any, I’ll post another round, or two, from my now massive but awesome King image archive 🫶🏿🫅🏿🫶🏿Reminder Note: I have no intent on using any of these images beyond these posts. #midjourney #midjourneyai #midjourneyart #wangechimutu #tarot #tarotcards #tarotreadersofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/ClK189ZLGZq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#midjourney #wangechimutu #midjourneyai #midjourneyart #tarot #tarotcards #tarotreadersofinstagram

[shar1129]

#wangechimutu (at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9fFbeKhLbP/?igshid=8wxifptslzjq

#wangechimutu

[asharaekundayo]

I spent my summers coming to this museum as a child it holds great significance for me. The daughter of Artists, my own creative center - I was always in awe of the grandeur of the building. But I have never wanted to journey here as much as I did today to behold these beautiful sculptures created by my favorite artist #WangechiMutu @wangechistudio - truly something to behold. I knelt down before them weeping in honor of the Divine Feminine, My revered Ancestors, my Mothers, my Grandmothers, my Granddaughters, knowing that indeed we are victorious and omnipresent now and forevermore! #thenewoneswillfreeus #BlackWomen #BlackArt @asharaekundayogallery (at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3cyLqllh2P/?igshid=1js8spn4bm8z4

#wangechimutu #thenewoneswillfreeus #blackwomen #blackart

[supportblackart]

Wangechi Mutu, You Are My Sunshine, 2015 @mutustudio 🌞 “Females carry the marks, language and nuances of their culture more than the male. Anything that is desired or despised is always placed on the female body.” . . . #supportblackart #wangechimutu #mutustudio #youaremysunshine #collage #kenyanartist #blackart #collageart #contemporaryart #afrofuturistic #veryblack

#wangechimutu #youaremysunshine #blackart #supportblackart #mutustudio #contemporaryart #collage #veryblack #afrofuturistic #kenyanartist #collageart