Artist’s site-specific works explore memory, transformation, and resistance
Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu will present Black Soil Poems at Galleria Borghese in Rome, marking the first time a living female artist has staged a solo exhibition in the historic institution. Supported by Fendi and curated by Cloé Perrone, the exhibition opens June 10 and runs through September 14, 2025.
The show extends across the museum’s galleries, façade, Secret Gardens, and to a satellite site at the American Academy in Rome. It includes suspended sculptures, installations, video, and sound works. Mutu draws from East African heritage and broader cultural references to construct a narrative that addresses memory, transformation, and myth.
Central to the exhibition are new interventions that engage directly with the museum’s classical setting. Bronze, soil, feathers, water, and wax appear alongside the Borghese’s marble and gilded interiors, offering material contrast and conceptual tension. The title Black Soil Poems refers to fertile ground as a metaphor for regeneration, placed in dialogue with the setting of the Borghese gardens.
In the galleries, works such as Ndege, Suspended Playtime, and Weeping Heads are installed to challenge spatial expectations. These suspended sculptures emphasize absence and memory, while maintaining a visual dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection.
Outdoor works, including The Seated I and IV, Water Woman, Nyoka, and Musa—originally developed for The Met’s Façade Commission—function as hybrid figures. Positioned at key points along the façade and gardens, these sculptures merge human, mythological, and architectural references.
Mutu’s video installation The End of eating Everything adds a time-based element to the show, creating a layered narrative in motion. Sound is used throughout the exhibition, including in works such as Poems by My Great Grandmother I and Grains of War, which incorporate lyrical and political references. The latter references Bob Marley’s WAR, itself drawn from a 1963 speech by Haile Selassie.
At the American Academy in Rome, Mutu presents Shavasana I, a bronze figure in repose positioned near ancient Roman funerary inscriptions. The work explores themes of mortality, ritual, and rest.
To coincide with the exhibition, Fendi has released a collaborative piece with Mutu: the Wangechi Mutu x Fendi Peekaboo. The sculptural bag is hand-painted with landscapes from Ngong Hills and Mount Kenya. It includes wooden interior branches finished with gold leaf, designed as a reflection of nature, memory, and craftsmanship.
The Peekaboo, originally created by Silvia Venturini Fendi in 2008, has previously been interpreted by artists and designers including Zaha Hadid, Sabine Marcelis, Adele, and Giuseppe Penone. Mutu’s reinterpretation continues this practice of artistic collaboration.
Fendi’s sponsorship of Black Soil Poems is part of the brand’s broader engagement with art and culture. The house maintains partnerships across fashion, design, and architecture, emphasizing creative exchange and support for contemporary artists.
The exhibition reframes the Galleria Borghese as a dynamic site—one rooted in history but receptive to re-interpretation and future narratives.
Black Soil Poems will be on view from June 10 through September 14, 2025, at Galleria Borghese, with additional work installed at the American Academy in Rome.
