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Wangari Mathenge’s ongoing series of oil paintings, featured in her New York exhibition Re-membering, looks at cultural identity and Kenya’s history in the first half of the 20th century. The works use domestic scenes, toys, maps and other objects to bring together memory, colonial history and the social changes surrounding independence. The exhibition at Lévy Gorvy Dayan is scheduled to continue through October 24, 2026.
Wangari Mathenge’s ongoing series of vivid oil paintings is examining Kenyan cultural identity and history through domestic scenes, personal memory and symbolic objects. Many of the works are included in Re-membering, her current solo exhibition at New York gallery Lévy Gorvy Dayan, which is scheduled to run through October 24, 2026.
Born in Nairobi, Mathenge looks to the first half of the 20th century in the works described by Colossal, a publication covering art and visual culture. The paintings place women in interiors filled with items such as toys, books and maps. The artist depicts herself as each of the women, whose interactions with these objects suggest acts of remembering, changing and reassembling the past.
Several works pair familiar or nostalgic imagery with scenes that carry tension. In Re-membering XIII (May the Wind Be Always at Your Back) (2026), one figure readies an arrow in a bow. In Re-membering XI (To Leave This Steady Unendurable Land), a green ladder appears in a wall, an uncanny detail within an otherwise domestic setting. Other figures alter or handle objects, including a teddy bear or an image of a transatlantic vessel.
The exhibition includes paintings made in different years. Re-membering II (Facing Mt. Kenya) dates to 2025, while several of the works in the series, including Re-membering XII (The Wednesday Women’s Club) and Re-membering XIII, are dated 2026. Colossal’s report identifies the exhibition as ongoing and gives October 24, 2026, as its closing date. The source does not provide attendance figures, visitor responses or additional exhibition programming.
How Domestic Scenes Carry History
Mathenge’s paintings connect intimate spaces with the wider history of colonialism and political change. Their domestic settings do not present history only as a sequence of public events: instead, the works invite viewers to consider how cultural memory is carried through objects, relationships and inherited ways of seeing. The artist’s use of herself as the figures makes that inquiry personal, while the recurring symbols leave room for viewers to read the scenes in more than one way.
The historical reference is specific. Kenya declared independence in 1963, after nearly 70 years of British colonial rule, during a decade in which other countries also gained independence from Britain. Mathenge’s paintings are not presented in the source as documentary illustrations of those events. Their importance lies in how they use visual storytelling to consider the longer effects of colonial rule and the continuing work of cultural remembrance.
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Kenya’s Independence and the Series
Kenya’s independence in 1963 formed part of a wider period of political change across Africa and beyond. The source report names Gambia, Malawi and Nigeria among countries that gained independence from British control in the 1960s, alongside Guyana. It characterizes the decade as a period of democratic redevelopment and sociocultural shifts, placing Mathenge’s interest in the past against that broader historical backdrop.
The series takes inspiration in part from scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s 2009 book Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance. According to Colossal, the book addresses the lasting impacts of colonialism and slavery in Africa. Mathenge’s exhibition title, Re-membering, also carries a stated meaning beyond ordinary recall: it refers to gathering and reassembling what has been fragmented, including cultural memory, inherited forms, histories and ways of seeing.
Colossal’s report includes works from Mathenge’s earlier The Ascendants series as well as paintings in Re-membering. It also credits Brian Griffin Art Photography on some images and lists Pippy Houldsworth Gallery as the courtesy source for certain works. The current solo exhibition, however, is at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in New York.
““Re-membering signifies not merely the act of recall, but the active gathering and reassembly of what has been fragmented: cultural memory, inherited forms, histories, and ways of seeing.””
— Wangari Mathenge
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What the Exhibition Report Leaves Open
The available report describes the paintings and their themes but does not include a full statement from Mathenge about each individual work. Interpretations of particular symbols, including the ladder, arrow, toys and vessel, should not be treated as confirmed explanations from the artist unless she has provided them elsewhere. The source describes these images as pointing toward change, tension, resistance and healing, but does not assign a single definitive meaning to every object.
It is also unclear from the report whether the exhibition will include events or programming before its scheduled close, or whether the series will continue in a later presentation. No information is provided on sales, attendance, critical response or the number of paintings on view. Those details cannot be established from the source material.
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Exhibition Runs Through October 24
As reported, Re-membering remains on view at Lévy Gorvy Dayan through October 24, 2026. Visitors seeking current access details, opening hours or any changes to the schedule should check the gallery’s own information, as those details are not included in the report. The source also points readers to Mathenge’s Instagram for more of her work; it does not announce a subsequent exhibition or a new project.
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Key Questions
What is Wangari Mathenge’s Re-membering?
Re-membering is Mathenge’s current solo exhibition at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in New York. It includes vivid oil paintings that explore cultural identity, memory and histories connected to Kenya.
When does the exhibition close?
Colossal reports that the exhibition is scheduled to continue through October 24, 2026. Check the gallery for current visiting information.
What do the paintings depict?
The paintings show women, all depicted by Mathenge, in domestic settings with objects including books, toys and maps. Some scenes also include unusual details or actions, such as a figure preparing an arrow.
How does Kenya’s independence relate to the series?
Kenya declared independence in 1963, after nearly 70 years of British colonial rule. The report connects Mathenge’s interest in the first half of the 20th century with the political and cultural changes surrounding that period, while describing the paintings as explorations of memory rather than documentary depictions.
What inspired Mathenge’s approach to cultural memory?
The report says Mathenge drew inspiration in part from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s 2009 book Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance, which addresses the lasting impacts of colonialism and slavery in Africa.
Source: rss
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