Painted in Åkersberga, Sweden (a suburb of Stockholm), this self-portrait by Tanzanian artist Everlyn Nicodemus renders identity as a chorus rather than a single note. The artist fuses modernist flat color with emblematic masks to picture the overlapping roles she inhabited as a Black woman, artist, migrant, mother, and partner in early-1980s Scandinavia. The canvas layers four aspects of a single woman’s face into one composite head, rising from right to left against a striated green-brown background. The lowest visage with medium-brown skin, wide white eyes, and soft red mouth tilts left in three-quarter view. Above it, a warm umber profile with arched brows and red lips bisects the composition. Flanking these, two mask-like faces—one darker black with cream-striped eyes and a gold crown of hair, the other black, green, and blue with a graphic grin seem to press in from the edges, accented by cobalt and crimson ovals. Features interlock like cut paper, edges crisp and flat, with no horizon or body to anchor them with only a suggestion of neck and patterned shoulder. The effect is calm yet charged for an intimate and insistently multifaceted self-portrait. The stacked heads refuse a fixed gaze, acknowledging vigilance and self-protection in societies marked by racism and sexism. “I exhibited myself as a subject, showing every part of myself… It was a form of psychological survival,” she has said. In this self-depiction it is visible in layered selves that are vulnerable, witty, guarded, and resolute at once. Acquired by the British National Portrait Gallery in 2022, the work marks the first painted self-portrait by a Black female artist in its collection, expanding who is seen in Britain’s portrait canon. The crisp contours, saturated primaries, and wood-grain field intensify that declaration: a life assembled, unmasked, and held together by will.

"Självporträtt, Åkersberga (Self-portrait, Akersberga)" by Everlyn Nicodemus (Tanzanian) - Oil on canvas / 1982 - National Portrait Gallery (London, UK) #WomenInArt #WomenArtists #WomensArt #artText #BlueskyArt #TanzanianArt #TanzanianArtist #EverlynNicodemus #Nicodemus #NPG #NationalPortraitGallery

A dark-skinned woman with a focused expression is depicted in a dynamic, almost sculpted pose, her body contorted against a clean, white background using clear and defined lines with shades of dark brown and gray used to create depth and dimension. The composition is centered on the figure. Her face is sculpted with detail and her gaze is intense and directed unflinchingly upward towards us. With her body angled in a way that creates a sense of tension and movement, the arms are draped over her head, and her legs are bent in a crouched position. Her muscles and limbs are rendered with precision for an overall effect of a powerful, yet vulnerable, presence. Sungi Mlengeya was born in 1991 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She is a self-taught artist who works primarily in the acrylic medium on canvas creating paintings that are free, minimalist and with a curious use of negative space. Most of the works consist of dark figures in minimal shades of black and browns against perfectly white backgrounds, a commemoration of women who surround her. In 2020, Sungi was honored in Apollo 40 Under 40 Africa, a selection the most inspirational young people in the African art world; and in 2022 graced the Johnnie Walker and Trace Africa Top 30 list of leading creatives in the continent. The artist’s solo exhibition Don’t Try, Don’t Not Try with the B.LA Art Foundation in Vienna partly benefited Women without Borders whose headquarters are also in the city. (Un)Choreographed, another solo exhibition that took off in June 2022 marked the reopening of the home of London’s Africa Centre in Southwark. In 2021, the artist presented a solo booth at Art Basel Miami Beach titled Unsettled Minds following her debut solo exhibition Just Disruptions at Afriart Gallery in Kampala earlier that year.

Wallow by Sungi Mlengeya (Tanzanian) - Acrylic on canvas / 2022 - Albertina Modern Museum (Vienna, Austria) #womeninart #femaleartist #womanartist #womensart #art #artwork #modernart #TanzanianArtist #SungiMlengeya #Mlengeya #AlbertinaModern #AcrylicPainting #monochromatic #WomenPaintingWomen