Artworks

Hide 'n' Seek, Kill or Speak, 2004

  • Artist

    Wangechi Mutu

  • Title

    Hide 'n' Seek, Kill or Speak

  • Date

    2004

  • Medium

    Paint, ink, collage, and mixed media on Mylar

  • Dimensions

    48 x 42 in. (121.9 x 106.7 cm) Frame: 54 x 47 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (137.2 x 120.7 x 5.7 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn

  • Object Number

    2004.13.3

Here, the figure’s sensuous, ink-splattered skin translates as alternately twinkling stars or blooming sores. Dynamic and disjointed, she is constructed from cut-outs sourced from pornography, fashion, car, and motorcycle magazines as well as ethnographic periodicals such as National Geographic. Wangechi Mutu ruptures the mainstream standards of beauty that these publications present to be fetishized and adored. Instead, she offers unresolved, dismembered bodies that rebel against stereotypical images of African women and those of the Global South.


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Artworks

Hide 'n' Seek, Kill or Speak, 2004

  • Artist

    Wangechi Mutu

  • Title

    Hide 'n' Seek, Kill or Speak

  • Date

    2004

  • Medium

    Paint, ink, collage, and mixed media on Mylar

  • Dimensions

    48 x 42 in. (121.9 x 106.7 cm) Frame: 54 x 47 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (137.2 x 120.7 x 5.7 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn

  • Object Number

    2004.13.3

Here, the figure’s sensuous, ink-splattered skin translates as alternately twinkling stars or blooming sores. Dynamic and disjointed, she is constructed from cut-outs sourced from pornography, fashion, car, and motorcycle magazines as well as ethnographic periodicals such as National Geographic. Wangechi Mutu ruptures the mainstream standards of beauty that these publications present to be fetishized and adored. Instead, she offers unresolved, dismembered bodies that rebel against stereotypical images of African women and those of the Global South.


Explore further