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Artworks

Chocolate Nguva, 2015

  • Artist

    Wangechi Mutu

  • Title

    Chocolate Nguva

  • Date

    2015

  • Medium

    Patinated bronze with marble base

  • Dimensions

    10 × 16 × 14 in. (25.4 × 40.6 × 35.6 cm)

  • Edition

    Edition of 9 and 3 AP

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by Holly Peterson

  • Object Number

    2017.23a-b

Wangechi Mutu recontextualizes images from popular culture, myth, and art history to create hybrid figures of Black femininity and power. The nguva, a mythical water woman from East African folklore, is thought to be derived from the dugong, a relative of the manatee and one of the most endangered mammals in East Africa. Here, Mutu monumentalizes the nguva by casting it in bronze to pay homage to the mythic power of this female being while considering the complexities of our relationship to the environment.


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Artworks

Chocolate Nguva, 2015

  • Artist

    Wangechi Mutu

  • Title

    Chocolate Nguva

  • Date

    2015

  • Medium

    Patinated bronze with marble base

  • Dimensions

    10 × 16 × 14 in. (25.4 × 40.6 × 35.6 cm)

  • Edition

    Edition of 9 and 3 AP

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by Holly Peterson

  • Object Number

    2017.23a-b

Wangechi Mutu recontextualizes images from popular culture, myth, and art history to create hybrid figures of Black femininity and power. The nguva, a mythical water woman from East African folklore, is thought to be derived from the dugong, a relative of the manatee and one of the most endangered mammals in East Africa. Here, Mutu monumentalizes the nguva by casting it in bronze to pay homage to the mythic power of this female being while considering the complexities of our relationship to the environment.


Explore further