Wangari Mathenge (b. Nairobi, Kenya 1973) holds degrees from Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center, Washington. She completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in Summer 2021. Solo projects include The Expats Studies: Impressions on Paper, The Sacristy Gallery, Chicago (2021) and Aura of Quiet, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles (2019). Other recent exhibitions include Gaabo Motho, Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt (2021) and Witness: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami (2020-21) alongside artists including Lorna Simpson, Portia Zvavahera and William Kentridge. Mathenge was recently commissioned to make a new painting to accompany an essay series in The New York Times. Her work has also been featured in publications including Artforum, The Financial Times, Art of Choice, Artsy, Culture Type, Creative Boom, Ocula and Riot Material. Collections include Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin. The artist lives and works in Chicago.
Current institutional group exhibitions include Stretching the Body at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, and Black American Portraits, at LACMA, Los Angeles. The artist exhibited her first UK solo exhibition, You Are Here, at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London in 2021.