Quotes from Wangechi Mutu

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

Some people get turned on by my work, and it sells, but what drives me is the process of making it.

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

I do all I can to make my world a better place to live in for me and for my kids as well.

I have this amateur side attraction to, and interest in, the sciences and biology and physics and evolution. Paleontology is of interest to me. I'm interested in the way these fields have helped us understand how we are human and why we are human.

Often, there's an emphasis in my work, and it's sort of the celebrating of the body.

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

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'm big into multifunctional clothing.

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.

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've always been curious about the things that I'm afraid to look at, that make me embarrassed or bother me.

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.

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.

I keep things moving along with a seriously loving, caring, and brilliant man, a fierce group of friends - and really strong coffee.

My works tends to be erotic.

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.

'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.

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

Equal rights for women and queer folks!

I love magazines because they're so dispensable, and they're so quickly consumed. In that way, they're quite honest. They're unashamed about how small an amount of time they're trying to keep our attention.

Beautiful things can happen when you act intuitively and instinctively in a moment of anxiety and do something radical.

Football has that wonderful gift of being accessible. You don't need much gear, a coach, or a lifeguard. You just need your imagination, strong legs, and a couple of friends, and it's a game.

Gold and precious gems are, in many places, the one form of wealth a woman can use to protect and enhance herself within the elaborate structure of patriarchy.