吃瓜爆料

For years, 吃瓜爆料 College studio art major Caroline Coxe 鈥�20 has been inspired by acclaimed Kenyan American artist Wangechi Mutu.

Now, as the Eleanor Linder Winter 鈥�43 Endowed Internship at 吃瓜爆料鈥檚, Coxe invited Mutu to campus to deliver the third annual Winter/Miller Lecture on Feb. 27.

鈥淲angechi Mutu has been my biggest artistic inspiration for five years now, and getting to meet her is incredible,鈥� Coxe said. 鈥淭o this day, because of her influence, my studio is scattered with magazine clippings, and fabric scraps with which I construct landscapes and bodies.鈥�

Mutu, who was born in Kenya, studied in the United States and now divides her time between studios in New York and Nairobi. Her wide-ranging body of work includes performance, sculpture, collage, painting and video.

The Winter Intern organizes the annual Winter/Miller lecture and is given the opportunity to invite an artist who is influential to the intern鈥檚 own intellectual and creative development.

鈥淲hen I was a sophomore, I remember going to the first Winter/Miller Lecture with (artist) Nicole Eisenman, and how my painting professor, Joanne Vella, said what a privilege the opportunity was that a student got to bring her to campus,鈥� Coxe said. 鈥淚 remember thinking, 鈥業 have to get that internship!鈥欌��

Coxe volunteered on the Tang Student Advisory Council and worked as a gallery monitor and as an programming assistant before being awarded the Winter Internship. Mutu was her first choice for the Winter/Miller Lecture.

鈥淚 thought she would be completely out of reach, so I included her on a list with others who I thought would more realistic options,鈥� Coxe said.

Mutu first gained fame for her female figures collaged out of numerous sources, like fashion, hunting and National Geographic magazines, which The New York Times has called both 鈥減olitically nuanced鈥� and 鈥渧isually ravishing.鈥�

Mutu鈥檚 most recent acclaim comes from being the first artist to be commissioned to create sculptures for the four niches on the fa莽ade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Time Magazine has praised the work, saying the bronze sculptures, which reference the tradition of high-ranking African women, 鈥渃hallenge the institution鈥檚 own history of Eurocentrism and patriarchy.鈥�

Speaking at the Tang, Mutu shared the ideas that go into making her art, which she said is informed by concerns for issues around gender, race, identity, immigration, violence, history, mythology, the environment, being human and the power of art.

鈥淗ow is it that art makes us able to see one another?鈥� she asked.

Coxe鈥檚 experience and Mutu鈥檚 appearance were made possible through a gift from the family of Eleanor Linder Winter 鈥�43. The previous Winter Interns and lecturers were Rachel Rosenfeld 鈥�18, who invited Nicole Eisenman, and EB Sciales 鈥�19, who invited Chris Ware.

More information about the Winter Internship and other opportunities at the Tang are available at .