A Shady Promise organizes and paraphrases Wangechi Mutu’s oeuvre without diminishing its scope or the complexity of its vision. The book is organized into four “chapters” (not including the introduction by Michael E. Veal and the afterword by Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade): “Line Drawings,” “The Pin-Up,” “Hybrid,” and “Body as Space.” Each chapter begins with an interview between Mutu and curator/art scholar, Isolde Brielmaier, and contains about 22 to 25 full color prints. Together, the chapters show a somewhat chronological but mostly ideological progression of Mutu’s ideas from their more nascent forms to their fruition as large-scale paintings and installations.

‍