Sungi Mlengeya: Earth and Sky

“Earth and Sky”, is an exhibition by Tanzanian artist Sungi Mlengeya. Working and living in Arusha, Mlengeya is known for her pared-back visual language, in which dark female figures emerge from vast fields of negative space.

Conceived in the wake of her mother’s death, the new body of work reflects on continuity, ancestry and the ways in which human lives endure beyond the physical body. Mlengeya considers how a person’s influence persists through gestures, knowledge, habits and acts of care passed from one generation to the next. Her mother’s own creative practice and encouragement played a formative role in the artist’s development, becoming one of the ways in which her presence continues through time.

The title “Earth and Sky” evokes the movement between rootedness and expansion: the earth as a metaphor for origins and invisible roots, and the sky as a space of openness and possibility. These ideas are reflected in subtle shifts in Mlengeya’s visual language, with earthy brown tones grounding the figures and gestures of elevation suggesting movement towards the sky. The surrounding white space becomes a metaphorical field of infinite potential.

Although rooted in personal loss, the exhibition considers grief, memory and ancestry as part of a wider continuum of human existence, inviting viewers to reflect on both those who have shaped them and the influences they may pass on.