Wangechi Mutu

“I believe art is a connection, like passing on a flame.”

“Our interest is in showing that homophobia is not part of the agenda for a new Africa.”

“The medium of film is really wonderful because it can behave in the same way as collage and painting; it can be layered and non-literal.”

“I've always loved the idea that you think you know what you're looking at from a distance, yet when you come up close, it gets intricate and nutty and obscene and provocative.”

“I feel that art is beyond language.”

“'Misguided Little Unforgivable Hierarchies' is a piece that I did around the time that I was very frustrated and angry with the fact that the U.S., where I live, had decided to pull itself into another war. I was really angry.”

“If something hurtful enters your body, you create something beautiful to protect yourself from it. That's my philosophy.”

“I really believe in dreaming and making things from nothing.”

“Born Free is an idea that came from a place of deep respect for the delicate cycle of life. How incredible to be able to work with gifted designers who, as mothers, recognize what the devastating loss of a child could mean and how easily that loss can be avoided.”

“Motherhood is the ultimate call to sacrifice.”

“I watched a lot of avant-garde films, like Maya Deren's work, and I love film's technical ability to do things that are impossible in real life. It's related to the way collage allows you to manipulate reality and the hierarchies that are inherent in our awful but amazing world.”

“If I don't have an ability to go the places that I have been invited to show at and to speak at and to feature my talent, well then, I am going to stay here in New York City and work my butt off.”

“We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all these amazing things in terms of our knowledge base and technology, and now we're flying around and using the Internet. But we're still very animalistic.”

“The ocean is the source of life. We all come from there. I think about these one-celled creatures, and I think about the planet. It is related to my obsession with biology, even if it's only a layperson's obsession. The way I visualise what's at the bottom of the ocean is very much to do with how I feel when I'm swimming in the sea.”

“I hope my kids see imagination has power to change everything.”

“There's a recycling mentality about my work.”

“In 'National Geographic,' you always saw pictures of tribal Africa. And here I am, sitting in Nairobi in our suburban house, watching TV and thinking, 'Why is it always going to be these tribal people 'that are the ambassadors of our image?”

“I use femaleness as another lens, so I don't even think all my creatures are women; I just think that I bring out the femaleness in them.”

“One of the things I'm interested in is not just women but the female qualities that are present in everyone.”

“While I was a student at The Cooper Union, they discouraged too much of a focus on any one medium, and it helped me try new and different things.”