NEW WINDSOR, New York — Conjuring fantastical visions of a collective past and imagined future in the face of myriad modern humanitarian and ecological crises, Wangechi Mutu’s sculptures at Storm King Art Center are urgent yet optimistic. Nestled across a hilltop in New York’s sweeping Hudson Valley, Mutu’s arresting sculptures and videos deepen her investigations of gender and racial politics, science fiction, colonialism, consumption, and communion with nature, amid a bucolic environment.

A motif that grounds all of Mutu’s works is a spiritual connection to African traditions. Through this she pays homage to the unifying power of shared mythologies and reclaims narratives that have been erased through colonization. In five bronze sculptures displayed outdoors around the perimeter of Storm King Hill, which take the form of larger-than-life woven straw baskets, Mutu not only aligns the domestic art of basket weaving with fine art as a means of rewriting history, but also elucidates visual parallels between human artistry and naturally occurring patterning in the animal world. Up close, the baskets’ contents are intricate and epic: stately tortoise shells in “Kobe” (2022), scaly twines of serpents in “Nyoka” (2022), and colossal coils of braided human hair in “Nywele I” (2022) swell from the deceivingly lithe rims of their bronze vessels.

Η συνέχεια εδώ.