Born in 1991 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Sungi Mlengeya has gained recognition for her distinctive visual language, characterized by monochromatic portraits of Black women. Her meticulously painted figures are set against minimalist white backgrounds, creating a striking contrast that emphasizes skin texture and form. Mlengeya’s figurative portraiture serves as a tribute to the women in her life, portraying them in states of movement and stillness; strength and calm;resilience and repose. Through the interplay of light and expansive negative space, she conveys a sense of boundless possibility, inviting viewers to reflect on the inherent freedom and power of those she paints.
Mlengeya’s work has garnered international attention and is featured in prominent private and public collections. Following her debut solo exhibition, Just Disruptions at Afriart Gallery in Kampala, she presented Unsettled Minds, a solo booth at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2021. In 2022, her solo exhibition (Un)choreographed marked the reopening of The Africa Centre in London, and her work was also the focus of Don’t Try, Don’t not Try, a solo show hosted by the B.LA Foundation in Vienna, Austria.
Her work has been included in When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, a groundbreaking travelling exhibition presented at the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, Kunstmuseum Basel, and Bozar Brussels (2022–2025). In 2024, Mlengeya’s work was featured in The Beauty of Diversity at the Albertina Modern in Vienna.
In 2023, she participated in Insistent Presence: Contemporary Art from the Chazen Collection at the Chazen Museum of Art in the United States and Africa Supernova at Kunsthal KAdE in the Netherlands. Her other notable group exhibitions include A Force for Change at Agora Gallery in New York, an exhibition and auction hosted by UN Women in 2021 to support Black women globally, and Black Voices: Friend of My Mind at Ross-Sutton Gallery. Mlengeya has also exhibited at Unit London in The Medium is the Message and Drawn Together, and her work was showcased in 1-54 Highlights at Christie’s London. Her participation in Playing to the Gallery in 2020 and Surfaces II: Gender Identity Rebellion in 2019 at Afriart Gallery acclaimed her mark in the contemporary art scene.
Mlengeya was named one of Apollo’s 40 Under 40 Africa in 2020, recognizing her as one of the most influential young figures in African art. In 2023, she was honored as a resident at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, and she was also included in the inaugural Keep Walking: Africa Top 30 List.
Selected Press:
Michael Holland for Southwark News: The Art of Dance Opens New Africa Centre. 2022.
Made in Bed: Elsa Åkesson in Conversation with Artist, Sungi Mlengeya. 2021.
Create! Magazine: Finding her Focus – Interview with Sungi Mlengeya. Alicia Puig. 2021.
ApolloMagazine: The Apollo 40 under 40 in focus.Jillian Caddell. 2020.
