In most cases I start off with a sketch. But I'm also thinking about real images: out of National Geographic, out of fashion magazines, out of The Economist, out of Time. I'm making a sketch, but I'm using the existing images that have been put out in the world.

Wangechi Mutu

Categorized in : Thinking Real Fashion

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.

Wangechi Mutu

males female culture

I'm not a policy maker. I'm not even a very great activist. My main thing is to make things that speak for the culture that I live in.

Wangechi Mutu

makers speak culture

I hope my kids see imagination has power to change everything.

Wangechi Mutu

power-to-change imagination kids

A lot of my work reflects the incredible influence that America has had on contemporary African culture. Some of it's insidious, some of it's innocuous, some of it's invisible. It's there.

Wangechi Mutu

influence culture america

We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all these amazing things in terms of our knowledge base and technology, and now we're flying around and using the internet. But we're still very animalistic. So, I think about hierarchies. I think about evolution. I think about how we stack up, how we sit on top of each other. How we pray that we know what we're up to.

Wangechi Mutu

long-ago technology thinking

What is Africa, anyway? Even I don't know what Africa is, entirely. But I know that it's not some of these simplified sound bites you hear in America.

Wangechi Mutu

bites sound america

Always acknowledge your position in the food chain... They eat because you grow the food.

Wangechi Mutu

chains grows acknowledge

I have this amateur side attraction to, and interest in, the sciences and biology and physics and evolution. Paleontology is of interest to me. I'm interested in the way these fields have helped us understand how we are human and why we are human. I'm also from the area that is considered to be the cradle of mankind.

Wangechi Mutu

fields sides way

Everything is deeply affected by the dominant culture. Consumerism is huge in the US. This is by far the wealthiest [nation], but also the biggest consumer in the world. Which means that a lot of things get used, a lot of things get wasted, and a lot of things get churned out in ways that are wasteful.

Wangechi Mutu

mean culture way

Kenya is rapidly developing its industry and manufacturing, and its cultural identity as a new country. We had a humongous history pre-British, and when we were colonized and violently reshuffled, we had to decide who we were again. We couldn't rest on the stories and the cultures of our great-grandparents.

Wangechi Mutu

grandparent identity country

And luckily, for whatever reason, I've found people who are interested in living with and owning and existing around the DNA of my mind, which is my visual work. I've found collectors who are willing to put money down to live with my work. So I can't criticize the whole mechanism. But I can criticize it as an artist, in spite of the fact that I benefit from it. And there are problems with it.

Wangechi Mutu

dna artist people

I believe art is a connection, like passing on a flame.

Wangechi Mutu

flame i-believe believe art

Football has that wonderful gift of being accessible. You don't need much gear, a coach, or a lifeguard. You just need your imagination, strong legs, and a couple of friends, and it's a game.

Wangechi Mutu

gift you imagination football

Motherhood is the ultimate call to sacrifice.

Wangechi Mutu

call ultimate sacrifice motherhood

I've always loved the idea that you think you know what you're looking at from a distance, yet when you come up close, it gets intricate and nutty and obscene and provocative.

Wangechi Mutu

loved looking think you

I keep things moving along with a seriously loving, caring, and brilliant man, a fierce group of friends - and really strong coffee.

Wangechi Mutu

man friends coffee caring

Gold and precious gems are, in many places, the one form of wealth a woman can use to protect and enhance herself within the elaborate structure of patriarchy.

Wangechi Mutu

precious woman wealth gold

If something hurtful enters your body, you create something beautiful to protect yourself from it. That's my philosophy.

Wangechi Mutu

yourself you body beautiful

I am inspired and affected by Aspen, the light and the landscape and the natural world.

Wangechi Mutu

i-am landscape light world

When I'm making a collage, there are a lot of things about it that are violent.

Wangechi Mutu

collage making about things