Kaitlyn Arroyo
Self Image: I
Professor Cacoilo
March 12th, 2022
Kaitlyn Arroyo, Serene Forest, 2022Nature is a strikenly beautiful thing. It is unpredictable, as the change of seasons prove it so. In the image provided, my sister and I enjoying the last bit of warm weather before the temperature dropped this past weekend. With change, comes growth. And I believe that enjoying and looking around nature can build character in ourselves. Nature isn't selectively perfect. Mutu's relationship with nature is very strong and her work narrows between nature and human beings. Her collages have organic materials selected from blankets, animal pelts, plastic pears, and leather. She samples African tradition and depicts these female figures as part human, animal, plant, etc. Mutu's art enables the viewer to go deeper into the meaning between her connection with nature, and the essence of all things. Some examples of her artwork that incorporate nature include: The Sticks (2016), and Mirror (2016).
Contemporary Artist Wangechi Mutu is born in Kenya, Nairobi. She explores the creation of collages that come alive and is known for her sculpture, painting, and performance work. Her artwork centralizes around the theme of gender, race, colonialization, and the representation of black women in society. In the process of creating art, it's supposed to tell a story about the way it is perceived. The Earth is used as her medium which is considered a living matter that gives us life. She is a nature lover who admires the plants and little organisms around us and creates work that sits upon this theme. She turns this planetary persona into a woman that is moving home. Loss of control and the end of time is the these she uses in her artwork. Her sculptures express the theme of humanity. She's produced commissioned work that has been featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art located in New York and was there for viewing till Jan 2020. It's called The NewOnes will Free us.
Joanne Finkelstein
Excerpt from: The Art of Self Invention
Two Quotes
"Good manners must be invisible, they are the 'very art that appeereth not to be art." (Finkelstein 78)
When people view you, it shouldn't be apparent that you're a nice or bad person. There are many people that are quick to judge an individual by their appearance alone and never conversate to get to know them for who they truly are inside. That's why, when you surprise that person, that is the true art of seeing for yourself what was invisible to the eye. Politiness goes a long way in this world..
"The well-mannered individual should not laugh too loudly, should not scratch, or sit with their legs splayed out, neither should individuals clean their teeth with a knife, nor cough when others are speaking." (Finkelstein 86)
Well-mannered individuals is the coherance of good behavior coming from a person. Good behavior can make a conversation more comfortable and people will be more pleasant to have you as company. Having this attribute is common sense, but many believe manners are becoming a lost art. Why? Because in today's society, not many people learn to behave properly. Maybe they are influenced what is online and try to be cool about it. They might also do this to betray their parents tolerance on them. Our grandparents were taught that the respect you put out in the world will come back to you, and this message is lost in today's youthful era.
Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met
Excerpt from: The New York Times
Two Quotes
"Ms. Mutu notes that 'in classical African art, the female body in some instances is the museum - she is where the art is placed." (Times 1)
African feminite artistry should be documented in a museum so people can understand and study the figurative structures of a female body, record, and express their feelings when viewing this particular subject matter. Ms. Mutu is known for creating abstract art and uses the body as a primitive space to create collages that are morphed with animal, plant, and mechanical parts to give it some defining feature. Because everyone knows what the female body looks like.
"Women express 'wealth, status, family, and tribe' through their bearing and ornamentation which are 'all languages definable as art." (Times 2)
Back in the medievil century, women were regarded for their status of marriage of how much money they possessed. If they had none, they would be seen as poverish and weak, but if they had money, people would assume that she has a wealthy husband. Their status stuck with them like a pair of scissors and glue. Being that is who they "were" and defined it, the art that Ms. Mutu created was what symbolized their bearings of being a women.
MoMA
Excerpt from: The Feminist Challenge of Wangechi Mutu
One Quote
"I'm interested in powerful images that strike chords embedded deep in the reservoirs of our unconscious." (Orley 2)
I believe this quote is speaking on behalf of imagination within our brain apprehension. Imagination is so important in art because it helps us to create a space that enables us to be free to choose how we want to think and feel. You can imagine anything with the help of smells, taste, and imagery. I for one, like to imagine how my artwork will look before the actual finished product is produced.
Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey
Excerpt from: Brooklyn Museum
One Quote
"Mutu encourages audiences to consider these mythical worlds as places for cultural, psychological, and socio-political exploration and transformation." (Brooklyn 1)
The quote infers that when viewing her female body transformation work, get a general understanding of what type of attributes are being enhanced. Using these mythical worlds opens up a new range of unhidden meanings behind the person's ethnic backgkound or culture they came from.
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