Being taught to despise your body is being taught to perhaps admire someone else's body more than yours - being taught that your body is good for certain things and not for others.
Wangechi MutuRead
I've always loved the idea that you think you know what you're looking at from a distance, yet when you come up close, it gets intricate and nutty and obscene and provocative.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects how things appear simple from afar but reveal complexity upon closer inspection.
Wangechi Mutu's quote speaks to the nature of perception and the rich intricacies that lie beneath the surface of what we initially observe. It suggests that our understanding of a subject often deepens and becomes more complicated as we engage with it more closely, turning our initial perceptions into a realization of complexity that can be both shocking and inspiring.
Themes
PerceptionDepthArtComplexityIntricacy
In practice
Example use cases
During an art exhibition, this quote could be used to describe how viewers should approach each piece with an open mind and seek deeper meanings.
More from Wangechi Mutu
All quotes →Gold and precious gems are, in many places, the one form of wealth a woman can use to protect and enhance herself within the elaborate structure of patriarchy.
Wangechi MutuRead
The ocean is the source of life. We all come from there. I think about these one-celled creatures, and I think about the planet. It is related to my obsession with biology, even if it's only a layperson's obsession. The way I visualise what's at the bottom of the ocean is very much to do with how I feel when I'm swimming in the sea.
Wangechi MutuRead
Similar quotes
And at least in poetry you should feel free to lie. That is, not to lie, but to imagine what you want, to follow the direction of the poem.
Mark StrandRead
It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around.
Stephen KingRead
My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.
Steve MccurryRead
It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.
Virginia WoolfRead
If anyone gets in my way when I'm making a picture, I become irrational. I'm never sure what I am going to do, or sometimes even aware of what I do-only that I want that picture.
Margaret Bourke-WhiteRead
Hard to believe lightning can strike twice, but it surely did. The moment Caitriona Balfe came on screen, I sat up straight and said, ‘There she is!’ She and Sam Heughan absolutely lit up the screen with fireworks.
Diana GabaldonRead