Wangari Mathenge (b. 1973, Nairobi, Kenya) lives and works between London, UK, Chicago, IL, and Nairobi, Kenya. She holds degrees from Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, IL. In October 2023, Mathenge presented her second solo exhibition with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, A Day of Rest. She is currently included in When They See Us: Visibility in Contemporary Art/History, Dallas Museum of Art, TX (2024). Recent group exhibitions include When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2024), touring from Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa (2022); Black American Portraits, first mounted at LACMA, CA before travelling to Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, TN (2022-2024); The Power of Portraiture, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC (2022); Stretching the Body, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2021-22); and Witness: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami, FL (2020-21). Recent solo exhibitions include Nicola Vassell, New York, NY (2024); Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2023, 2019); Monica de Cardenas, Milan, Italy (2021); Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2021); and The Sacristy Gallery, Chicago, IL (2021). Collections include Dallas Museum of Art, TX; Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Muzeum Susch, Switzerland; Jorge M. Peréz Collection, Miami, FL; Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL; Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; Kistefos Museum, Oslo, Norway; Elie Khouri Art Foundation, Dubai, UAE; and Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA.