Breathtaking! These are the bold, beautiful paintings of Tanzanian artist Sungi Mlengeya. Perfectly crisp and clean negative space, mixed with the gorgeous detail in the hands and facial expressions… somehow accomplished while using a purposely limited palette. Gorgeous. I also included the photo of Sungi in her studio so you could see, A. the scale of her work, and B. Sungi herself, obviously in her happy place. Here is part of her artist statement:
“The works consist of dark figures in minimal shades of black and browns against perfectly
white backgrounds with topics varying widely from self-discovery to empowerment, but common themes in her work are centred around women, specifically black women. She shades a light on their stories; their journeys,
struggles, accomplishments and relationships with their immediate societies, her stories included.Sungi explores ‘space’ in her work, the white space in her paintings being any place that we are longing for. For her, the space represents a place of calm, free and detached from social norms and restrictions, real and imagined, that have altered complete liberty. She is inspired by everyday lives of women who surround her as they try to pursue their true preferences freely and uninhibitedly.”
Amen.
[…] Posted bythe jealous curator […]
Great artist. A different for the same artist is presented here: https://everythingwithatwist.com/2020/10/19/dark-figures-by-artist-sungi-mlengeya/