Wangari Mathenge (b. 1973, Nairobi, Kenya) lives and works between Chicago, IL, and Nairobi, Kenya. She holds degrees from Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, IL. In October 2023, Mathenge presented her second solo exhibition with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, A Day of Rest. Recent group exhibitions include When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2022), touring to Kunstmuseum Basel (2024) and Bozar, Brussels (2025); The Human Situation, Lévy Gorvy Dayan, New York, NY (2025); Through Their Eyes: Selections from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, CA (2025); When You See Me: Visibility in Contemporary Art/History, Dallas Museum of Art, TX(2024); Black American Portraits, first mounted at LACMA, CA before travelling to Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, TN (2022-2024); The Power of Portraiture, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC (2022); Stretching the Body, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2021-22); and Witness: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami, FL (2020-21). Recent solo exhibitions include Nicola Vassell, New York, NY (2024); Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2023, 2019); Monica de Cardenas, Milan, Italy (2021); Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2021); and The Sacristy Gallery, Chicago, IL (2021). In 2025 the Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, acquired works by Mathenge. Further collections include Dallas Museum of Art, TX; Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Muzeum Susch, Switzerland; Jorge M. Peréz Collection, Miami, FL; Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL; Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Kistefos Museum, Oslo, Norway; Elie Khouri Art Foundation, Dubai, UAE; and Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA.