Inside my Women's Event Yesterday: A Retrospective of Wangechi Mutu's Works

Saturday April 1st, 10 women leaders visited the New Museum in Manhattan. I hired docent Helen Lee for a private tour and talk of Wangechi Mutu’s work.

Wangechi Mutu was the first artist to be featured on the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since the building’s completion in 1902, the alcoves facing Fifth Avenue remained empty. In 2019, the Met commissioned her to put her works in them.?

She created 4 female figurines in bronze. Some Greek temples feature a similar female form supporting the roof, instead of a column. It’s almost a metaphor for women who often carry the weight of the world on their heads. Mutu decided to spark a different conversation by making her 4 statues freestanding. Queen-like. No weight-bearing responsibility at all. ?

That “bucking the norm” attitude permeates all of Mutu’s work

While the Met commissioned her for the alcove project in 2019, yesterday’s event was a private talk and tour of 3 floors of her work at the New Museum on the Bowery in Manhattan.

I picked this artist for my event because Mutu’s work focuses on daring, audacious, unapologetic women. Her work pushes back against the narrow and limiting stereotypes.

She has a lot to say about women overlooked: women of color, immigrant women, LGBTQ+ women and does so with a power. Her paintings are equal parts fantasy, pornography, a celebration of the female form. Her sculptures are ugly, beautiful, and grotesque. Sea creatures. Monsters. 400 pounds bronze serpents sleeping in bronze baskets containing real water.?

Weighing in at 860 pounds, some of the bronze statues are seen birthing things into creation into a canal of water. I imagined her studio in Brooklyn and the kind of mind it must take to ideate and fashion metal into such wild, HUGE, sinuous things. Helen shared that Mutu has trouble sleeping at night, because her mind is bursting with so many ideas and things to say. ?She is Kenyan American, with a studio in Brooklyn. Her work is often a nod to her native Africa, with soil, trees and traditional headdress on her figurines.

Afterwards, all 10 women headed to nearby restaurant for a conversation. I asked, “What about Mutu’s work and journey transfers to your business?” I don’t think our best ideas come when we sitting behind a desk. Mutus’ work can be a powerful inspiration for women looking to assert themselves in business as well.?One woman remarked that Mutu always had a strong sense of self, regardless of where the political winds were blowing. She was firm on her message she had for the world. Another remarked on the duality of woman: Both fierce enough to protect, but soft enough to be sensual.?

Each woman leader then put a challenge to the group to crowdsource a possible solution, leveraging the other 9 smart minds at the table.

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