Day 02: Sungi Mlengeya

Images courtesy of @sungimlengeya and https://sungimlengeya.com/

Sungi Mlengeya is a Tanzanian artist who’s spare, monochromatic acrylic portraits depict Black subjects, mostly women, dressed in white clothing and positioned against white backgrounds.

The self-taught artist's detailed renderings and unusual use of negative space cohere into beguiling portraits of Blackness and womanhood. Mlengeya studied finance in college and worked in banking until 2018, when she left her job to pursue painting full-time.

Sungi’s work has been collected extensively and exhibited at Afriart Gallery, Black Voices: Friend of My Mind Ross-Sutton Gallery 2020, The Medium is the Message & Drawn Together Unit London 2020, 1-54 Highlights Christie’s London 2020, 1-54 Art Fair London and New York 2020, 2020 Investec Cape Town Art Fair Solo Section, 2019 Latitudes Art Fair and Nairobi Railways Museum 2019. The artist was honoured in the 40 under 40 Africa Artist list in 2020 by Apollo Magazine.