Wangechi Mutu

Water Woman

2017; this cast 2018

Scroll

Wangechi Mutu

Water Woman

Wangechi Mutu

Water Woman

2017; this cast 2018

Physical Qualities Bronze, 36 × 65 × 70 in. (91.4 × 165.1 × 177.8 cm.)

Credit Line Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; and additional funds from Fanny B. Thalheimer Memorial Fund, Katherine M. Hardiman, Frederick R. Weisman Contemporary Acquisitions Endowment, The Rothschild Foundation, and Dr. Max Stern Trust Fund

Object Number 2017.148

East African folklore warns of the nguva: captivating sea-women who lure unsuspecting mortals into the waters. Wangechi Mutu imagines one such being in her cast bronze sculpture Water Woman. Mutu explores the ways in which the bodies of women—particularly Black women—are portrayed in mythology, art, and popular media. Often erupting with monstrous mutations, the artist’s figures are strong as well as beautiful, a celebration of their wholeness, offering an alternative to myths based on the fear of female power.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2017; the artist

"Water Woman, 2017" BMA Today, issue 159 (winter/spring 2019): p. 12.

Inscribed: Wangechi Mutu AP1/2 2018