Wangechi Mutu

"There are almost always figures in my work, and they all gravitate towards being quite 'female-ish.' Again, often they have a slightly deformed or skewed quality, like I believe every single one of us does. In my mind, there's always a disjuncture between who they are and what we see them as, as well as what they think they appear to be. I believe our bodies are only a single part of the many dimensions of our identity and, in some ways, the body becomes a trap in the understanding of the whole. We can invent, transform, re-imagine ourselves through manipulating our outer appearance and, thus, 'conquer' adversity through our physicality; or we can become subjugated…often there may not be a choice."

Wangechi Mutu, excerpted from Wangechi Mutu: This You Call Civilization?.

     

ACTIVE BACKLIST

WANGECHI MUTU: THIS YOU CALL CIVILIZATION?
ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO, TORONTO
U.S. $29.95 | CAN $29.95
ISBN: 9781894243643 | TRADE
PUB DATE: 5/31/2010 | Awaiting stock

WANGECHI MUTU: IN WHOSE IMAGE
VERLAG FüR MODERNE KUNST NüRNBERG
U.S. $25.00 | CAN $25
ISBN: 9783941185067 | TRADE
PUB DATE: 11/30/2009 | Awaiting stock

WANGECHI MUTU: A SHADY PROMISE
DAMIANI
U.S. $50.00 | CAN $50
ISBN: 9788862080217 | TRADE
PUB DATE: 5/1/2008 | Awaiting stock

  

OUT OF PRINT LISTING

WANGECHI MUTU: MY DIRTY LITTLE HEAVEN
HATJE CANTZ
U.S. $55.00 | CAN $55
ISBN: 9783775727013 | TRADE
PUB DATE: 11/30/2010 | Not available

Wangechi Mutu

"When the Sleeping Heads wall installation was presented at Power House Memphis in 2006, the artist referred to it, rather ominously, like a bedtime story that flips toward horror: 'Sleep is delightful, intoxicating, it nourishes both mind and body. Sleep is mysterious and often follows sweet and unholy actions that permit us to feel most divine and fulfilled. But sleep is a master not a lamb and it softens our resistance and kills our nerves, hides our attention and convolutes reality. When debauchery and chaos have taken over our lives and our land, sleep is second in command. Sleep is better than death. What good are corpses for labor and why bother force-feeding cadavers propaganda? So sleep well, sleep long, sleep sweetly…'"

Carol Thompson, excerpted from "Wangechi Mutu: This You Call Civilization?, from which this image is reproduced.