Wangari Mathenge’s paintings explore community and belonging through history, memory, and place. Her detailed, colorful portrayals of figures and groups in domestic settings feature objects that are filled with personal meaning or act as cultural markers. In her work, Mathenge draws on her heritage as well as memories and events in her own life, often centering on aspects of the diasporic experience. Born in 1973 in Nairobi, Kenya, she moved to London with her family as a young child. She later relocated to Washington, DC, where she studied law—later practicing in Massachusetts—before turning to painting, completing an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Mathenge lives and works in Nairobi and Buckinghamshire, England.

Mathenge’s paintings have recently been included in exhibitions at the Nasher Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (2026); Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields (2025); Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis (2025); Dallas Museum of Art (2025); Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm (2025); Kunstmuseum Basel (2024); Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee (2023–24); Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (2023); Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town (2022–23); and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2021–22), among others. Her work is held in public collections including those of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Dallas Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Muzeum Susch, Switzerland; Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields; Rubell Museum, Miami; Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.