Wangechi Mutu - water spirits in Venice and a Venice Biennale year
Published on 08/27/2026 at 16:27 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Wangechi Mutu brings a new cast of aquatic, feminine figures to Venice in her collage-painting exhibition The SeasSpirit. The show runs at Victoria Miro Venice from July 18 to August 29, 2026, as the gallery outlines in its exhibition announcement. Victoria Miro exhibition details
The Venice exhibition The SeasSpirit
In The SeasSpirit, Mutu presents new collage-paintings that imagine feminine water spirits emerging from shimmering, layered surfaces, installed in Victoria Miro’s Venice space near the Grand Canal. The exhibition is scheduled from July 18 to August 29, 2026, placing it squarely within the peak summer gallery season in the city.
The gallery description emphasizes how Mutu’s hybrid figures draw on East African coastal mythologies and environmental anxieties, combining ink, paint, photographic fragments and textured papers. Artefuse notes that the works channel eco-feminism and ancestral spirits, linking the Venice lagoon’s fragile ecology with global oceanic crises.
Biennial & fair context in Venice
Mutu’s Venice exhibition unfolds in the same city and summer as her participation in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Koyo Kouoh. La Biennale’s official description highlights her large-scale installation The End, Where All began, EdEN, a cosmological reimagining of the Garden of Eden through an African diasporic, eco-feminist lens.
According to La Biennale, the installation is composed of tactile sculptures made from Kenyan earth, sticks, cow horns, paper books, quartz crystals and other natural materials, forming a terrestrial and spiritual landscape inside the Arsenale. Gladstone Gallery, which works with Mutu, underlines that her inclusion in Biennale Arte 2026 runs from May 9 to November 26, 2026, embedding her practice in the central international conversation this year.
All news and background on Wangechi Mutu
Further reports on Wangechi Mutu’s exhibitions, biennial projects and museum collaborations can be found in the AD HOC NEWS archive and on the official Biennale Arte pages.
The materials and motifs in Mutu’s work
Mutu’s practice spans collage, painting, sculpture, film and installation, often assembling hybrid female bodies that fuse human, animal and botanical elements. Victoria Miro’s artist page points to series such as Intertwined, Black Soil Poems and the outdoor sculptures realized for Storm King Art Center in 2022.
Her collage-paintings typically employ ink, watercolor, cut photographic fragments, metallic foils and handmade papers, which she layers into dense, shimmering surfaces. Across these materials she stages narratives that address colonial histories, extractivism, gendered violence and speculative future worlds grounded in African diasporic cosmologies.
Where the artist stands now
Wangechi Mutu’s exhibition The SeasSpirit at Victoria Miro Venice runs through August 29, 2026, alongside her installation at Biennale Arte 2026, which remains on view in Venice until November 26, 2026.
Key facts on Wangechi Mutu
- Artist: Wangechi Mutu
- Medium / Genre: Collage, painting, sculpture, installation (conceptual and figurative)
- Born: 1972, Nairobi, Kenya
- Place(s) of practice: Studio based in New York, with ongoing projects in Kenya and internationally
- Active since: Mid-1990s, with early recognition following her participation in New York exhibitions and the development of her large-scale collages
- Key work groups: Intertwined, Black Soil Poems, Cleaning EARTH, outdoor sculptures at Storm King Art Center
- Current/last exhibition: The SeasSpirit, Victoria Miro Venice, July 18 – August 29, 2026
- Major collections: Works by Mutu are held in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum and others, as documented in museum records and exhibition materials.
- Awards: Mutu has received honors such as a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and other recognitions mentioned in institutional biographies, underscoring her influence in contemporary art.
- Next date: Biennale Arte 2026, Venice, main exhibition run continuing until November 26, 2026, with Mutu’s installation The End, Where All began, EdEN on view in the Arsenale.
Frequently asked questions about Wangechi Mutu
Where can I see Wangechi Mutu’s work in Venice in summer 2026?
Mutu’s new collage-paintings are on view in The SeasSpirit at Victoria Miro Venice from July 18 to August 29, 2026, while her installation The End, Where All began, EdEN forms part of Biennale Arte 2026 from May 9 to November 26, 2026.
What is the focus of Wangechi Mutu’s exhibition The SeasSpirit?
The exhibition presents new collage-paintings that imagine feminine water spirits, drawing on East African mythologies and eco-feminist thought, with layered materials that evoke the Venice lagoon’s environment. Victoria Miro and Artefuse both highlight the show’s ecological and ancestral themes.
How does Wangechi Mutu’s Venice Biennale project relate to her wider practice?
La Biennale describes Mutu’s installation as a reimagining of the Garden of Eden using Kenyan earth, sticks, cow horns, books and crystals, continuing her exploration of origin stories, environmental fragility and African diasporic cosmologies that also underpin exhibitions like Intertwined and Black Soil Poems.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
