Kenyan, b. 1972
In Two Canoe, 2022
Bronze
15 ft. 4 in. x 66 in. x 70 in. (467.4 x 167.6 x 177.8 cm)
Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery
Photo by David Regen
Mutu’s In Two Canoe is a sculpture that looks poised to embark on a journey, despite the water within and grass below. The sculpture’s two figures become one with their vessel and the landscape around them: their heads and hands are furled leaves, their legs mangrove-like roots in a metamorphosis in process. Their integration into nature around them, as well as their gently rounded torsos and the water circulating around their legs, allude to the fertility, femininity and symbiosis captured in the object's very doubled form.