User:Yaniscom/sandbox

= The NewOnes will free Us = The NewOnes will free Us (2019) is a sculptural group made by Wangechi Mutu that was temporarily showcased on the façade of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art between September 9, 2019 and November 1st, 2020. The display was composed of 4 bronze sculptures that were named The Seated I, II, III and IV, respectively.

The NewOnes will free Us came to fruition thanks to the Met Museum’s own budgeting error when it came to decorating its Beaux-Arts facade; since its construction in 1874, the building included four niches that left space for a pedestal in each. The space was preserved in anticipation of a series of sculptures from the artist Karl Bitter, who, due to low funding never completed his commission (Cascone). The niches remained unused from 1902 until 2019 where Mutu’s work came to finally occupy this long unused space. The collection was commissioned by the Met Museum as an initiative to introduce annual installations that would help “animate” and bring attention to the museum’s historical veneer. Mutu stated herself in an interview with the Museum in 2019 that by asking a contemporary artist to fill such a classic space is one of the most proactive decisions any historical establishment can make in today’s societal landscape (Mutu). The design and execution process of the sculptures started with Mutu sketching out figures in her famous afrofuturist aesthetic. The illustrations were then interpreted and translated into 3D through a software to be made into large molds. They were then cast in bronze and painted to fit Mutu’s vision.

Description
The collection is composed of 4 sculptures with slightly larger than life proportions measuring as tall as a 6 foot adult in a sitting or half-kneeling pose. The four female figures possess a complexion greatly reminiscent of historical African and Oceanic sculptures with thick black lips, a wide nose and dark squinting eyes that gives them an almost alien-like quality that is consistent with Mutu’s afrofuturist aesthetic.

Each figure is adorned with a circle somewhere on their heads with the Seated I  featuring it over her mouth; II, her forehead; III, the back of her skull and IV  over her eyes. The women are draped in robes designed with coils that extend from their necks to their feet covering their whole bodies but their heads and arms., The women have very long limbs and fingers that add to their otherworldly appearances. The statues are all of a golden brown color with variations of oranges, yellows, navy blues to jade greens around the face.

Color wise, the statues are all of a golden brown color with variations of oranges, yellows, navy blues to jade greens around the face.

Cultural References
Mutu’s initial inspiration when tasked with this commission was: caryatids. Inspired by these female sculptures whose significance were reduced to slavery and subserviency in order to enhance another’s might and wealth through the symbolic act of carrying the institutions of those who enslaved them; Mutu wanted to redefine the symbolism of the Caryatid. Since the commission was tasked by the MET, Mutu decided to draw inspiration from the MET museum’s very own collections. Two standout pieces which piqued her interest came from the African and Oceanic catalogs with the Yoruba Equestrian Figure and female Caryatid (1996.558) and the Congolese Royal Seat:Female Caryatid (1978.412.317) leaving strong influences on the installation’s final design and anatomy. These two artifacts helped Mutu realize the universality of the caryatid figure in both Western and African societies and their shared symbolic value across cultures.

Visually, Mutu's goal was to preserve the caryatid’s prestige while giving her the statehood and resilience of a queenly figure. She does so by designing her sculptures in poses of sitting and half kneeling carrying nothing but the robes on their shoulders rather than the thrones, roofs and children carried by traditional caryatids.

The kneeling and sitting pose of the sculptures can also be in reference to the acts of protest  sparked in American sports by ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick who sat and then knelt during the National Anthem for several games in 2016 in order to draw awareness to the oppression of African Americans and people of color in the United States (Haislop). While this potential inspiration has never been stated by Mutu herself, it is strongly connected to the Afrofuturist themes and message that she tries to convey in her art.

The horizontal and vertical coils that make up the figures' garment can be interpreted as both soft silky robe and sharp shiny armor. They also appear to reference the beaded bodices and circular necklaces of the Ndebele women, a tribe in the Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. On the other hand, the polished discs positioned on the different parts of the sculptures' heads allude to lip plates which are associated with the Mursi and Surma women of Ethiopia.

Philosophy and Meaning
When taking on the project of designing a commission for a traditionally Western palace, Mutu desired to reinvent the messaging of the caryatid figure. The etymology of caryatids originated around the 1st century BCE from the defeat of the Caryates at the hands of the Greeks. All the men were killed while the women were enslaved. In an attempt to permanently disgrace the Caryan people, the Greeks immortalized the image of the now enslaved Caryan women as columns to support their monuments (Plommer). In creating her own, contemporary caryatid, Mutu redefines the caryatid as a figure of strength but also self reliance: instead of having her sculptures support the structure of the MET they are presented in dynamic poses that convey a power and strength powerful enough to carrying a large monument without actually serving as support. In dressing these women of power in robes that appear both soft and shiny like silk but also resistant and blinding like armor; Mutu protects the womens’ bodies from the male gaze that has long commodified them in the art sphere. The decision possesses an even greater resonance when applied to black women in America who are too often eroticised for simply existing in a dominantly white and patriarchal society.

The Ndebele women whom Mutu took inspiration for the design of her horizontal coil robes live in a society that lives surrounding them. While the culture adopts traditional gendered roles with men taking care of cattle while women of the home unit; the community’s most celebrated and prominent rituals are centered around its women.

For Mursi and Surma women, the wearing of the lip plate is a rite of passage for girls into womanhood symbolizing their social maturity and reproductive potential. In highlighting traditional practices that enhance the traditional femininity of their participants, Mutu welcomes more “traditionally feminine” women into the feminism sphere.

Afrofuturism comes into play in Mutu’s work as it is an effective way at exploring the black experience by incorporating its history, culture, trauma but also its promise for a future free of the prejudices of universal history. The universe Afrofuturist artists like Mutu create are one that gives space for escape to individuals of African descent; through the remixed music, sculpture and/or imagery, they may envision a world in which Africans can inhabit rid of the flaws and biases that mainstream Western history has forced upon them. By incorporating design elements of these powerful women originating from different African cultures and tribes alongside science-fiction elements; Mutu creates a fantasy where individuals of color, but most importantly women of color can see themselves in roles of strength and respect. However, Afrofuturism has also been attributed as a tool for one to confront the rejection of black bodies and their heritage, most notably in Western societies. By creating these sculptures of black dynastic women with exaggerated limbs and otherworldly facial features, the artist calls out the alienation of Black Communities in the United States and around the world (Samatar).

In merging the black-coded female figure to the West’s perception of what is “alien”, Mutu calls out the double standard that exists when it comes to the depiction of black individuals. Black bodies are too often “othered” in dominantly white societies while their achievements or the lack there of equal treatment they receive is generally brushed off due to their supposite “different” anatomy. By depicting these black women under an afrofuturist lens, Mutu forces a non black audience of the installation to face an intangible bias that is now physically standing in front of them (Hoffman).

While cast in Bronze, the sculptures’ warmer color schemes and African influences distinguish them from the MET’s Beaux Arts architecture and New York’s overall monumental landscape. The variation in colors between the sculptures themselves could be Mutu’s way of referencing how rich and diverse the people and the cultures of Africa are; breaking down the ignorant biases of Africa’s cultural monotony. In addition, by installing these afrofuturist sculptures, Mutu marks the history of African Americans (even though temporarily) in a dominantly white American society that has for too long erased or sidelined the legacies of black Americans.