Wangechi Mutu, whose works are all rooted in her investigations and advocacy around human representation, is the 2022 Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture guest artist. 

Mutu’s work explores the value systems that reinforce our modes of representation. The figure, always present in Mutu’s art, reiterates our human desire to be understood, treated with dignity and recognized. Known for creations of fantastical female characters, Mutu’s art–a broad showcase of collages, sculptures, performance and even film–celebrates her origins in Kenya even as it employs the language of Afrofuturism.

Mutu has been the subject of several major solo exhibitions, most recently “The Façade Commission: Wangechi Mutu, The NewOnes, Will Free Us” (2019-2020) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and “Wangechi Mutu: I Am Speaking, Are You Listening?” (2021) at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum.

Read more about Mutu and this upcoming event in the College of Letters and Science website. 

This event is supported by Art Studio, the UC Davis College of Letters and Science and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. 

The Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture honors the Thiebauds’ long commitment to educating the eye and hand along with the mind. The endowment will complement the Art Studio’s Visiting Artist Lecture Series, a core component of the Art Studio MFA, increasing its ability to invite distinguished artists, critics and curators to the UC Davis campus.