WANGECHI MUTU

-MASK-

Wangechi Mutu is an artist originally from Nairobi, Kenya, who currently resides in New York. Having studied anthropology and fine art at Cooper Union and Yale, she graduated with her Masters of Fine Arts in 2000, and uses collage within her artwork. Mutu often cuts out her pictures from fashion magazines, national geographic, and magazines on African art in order to combine them in a collage showing a different perspective on beauty and feminism.

The piece above, entitled "mask" is a perfect (clean) example of her art style. She is very conscious of her own heritage and that of Africans all over the globe, along with the lies spread by the media in regard to the idealistic view of women. Within her art pieces, she actually criticizes these views, and so can be considered a true Feminist Artist. Often she uses her collage technique to distort the picture in the same way that the culture of our times distorts the ideas of what it means to be "beautiful".

It would be very fascinating to investigate her life story to see how that has affected her work, or to see how her work reflects her past experiences. Unfortunately, she seems to be very private about her personal life; choosing instead to allow her art pieces to act as her voice concerning world issues.

As far as this picture goes, it is a very interesting piece. In researching mask, I found that the image serving as her clothes is that of a voodoo doll, while the picture behind her is an image of a museum relic. What is intriguing is that the cutout of the voodoo doll covers part of her face as a mask, yet the rest of the image reveals more of her skin - arms and legs - as if she is both revealing and modest. Further yet,  the image of the voodoo doll seems to be cutting into her skin; this shows the restriction of the cultural image of beauty and perfection which limits the woman's self expression. Her body language is also contradictory. The legs suggest sexual prowress, or at least domination, while the position of the hands suggest submission. It is as if the very culture she lives in is tearing her in opposite directions between what it wants to see her as - an object of sexual desire - and who she really is.

Throughout her artwork, it is as if Wangechi Mutu is posing a question to each one of her viewers: What is it that you let define you? Do you define yourself, or do you adhere to the unfair and warped expectations of the society around you.

Website of Mutu's gallery in Las Angeles with Susanne Vielmetter

http://www.vielmetter.com/index.php?site=artists&fromlink=&a_id=63&detail=biography&artistname=wangechi_mutu