Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-American artist whose work often explores the relationship between humans and nature. Combining elements of painting, sculpture and collage to build her immersive artworks, Mutu’s practice, which includes cutting and pasting, mimics the ethos of her work, alluding to the violence and displacement often experienced by Black women in contemporary society. In Cassandra, 2007, a collage the artist has often referred to as one of her “drawing poems,” a group of alien-like figures reach towards each other. Reminiscent of phytoplankton viewed through a microscope, the creatures resist being seen, while grabbing towards each other, searching for connection. The work exemplifies how Mutu uses both nature and history to create striking images that speak to her own experience as a woman of color in contemporary society.

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