Calling all cynical pessimists! Wangechi Mutu has got an unnerving apocalyptic message for you.

While most of us try to deny the universal truth that all will come to an end eventually, Wangechi Mutu is here to remind us that our naive disposition maybe the root of all of our problems. Mutu explores all those juicy hot button topics that are sure to catch your eye such as consumerism, colonization, race, and gender. Better yet, she does it by exploring these global issues through a feminist lens. When asked about her infatuation with femininity, she explained “I'm very much a person that believes that there's something that was introduced into Kenya and Africa as we know it that has made us despise our bodies.” Eternal pessimist or honest realist? That is the question. While we could gnaw on that one for a while, we can be certain that her work is an attempt give back the power that has been robbed of women by our cultural norms.

This work was created along with two others for the Venice Biennale Arte 2015. The question on deck: What happens to materiality at the end of humanity? Of course it wouldn't be a Wangechi Mutu piece if she wasn't examining a woman’s role in all of this. All three pieces work as a cohesive whole to tell the story of our bleak future. One piece depicts a woman reaching for a fruiting tree while snakes eagerly look on, clearly a reference to Adam and Eve and the insatiable human appetite to possess all. Playing in the background when viewing this work is a video piece showing a woman exploring her surroundings with the weight of the material world bearing down upon her.

Then you move on to the piece you see before you. A woman passes through a narrow cage to emerge in a new world. The woman is leaving behind a life of glamor as we can tell due to her fresh mani she's reppin on her fingers. Gotta look hot no matter where you are traveling. You may also notice that she has a bouquet of feathers up her butt. While we may be encroaching on the world of fetishes, I am going to take the more PC interpretation and say this is further commentary on the lavish life this woman is leaving behind. It was surely not easy for her to ditch a life replete with booty stim and manicures, but perhaps she was banking on the old adage that the grass is greener on the other side. Sadly, it looks like her gamble is not paying off. As the woman emerges she is greeted with a scorched dark earth. Told you this work is bleak. So I guess we are to assume if we continue to crave the fleeting joys of materialism, the world may be doomed. Call me a pessimist, but I can't help but see this as a tastefully ironic message from someone whose livelihood depends on consumerism. Then again, perhaps that is Mutu’s point.