Zawadi Mrema (b. 1991)
Msasani, Last Bus, 2024
Oil on linen
100 × 130 cm
Estimate KES 450,000–650,000
Bidding
About the work
An empty bus shelter on the Msasani road after the last bus has gone, lit by a single sodium lamp. Mrema builds the orange light in thin glazes over a ground of deep teal, so the shelter glows while the road around it falls away into the dark.
Condition
Excellent.
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by the present owner, 2024.
The artist
Mrema paints Dar es Salaam after midnight: empty bus stops, ferry ramps, the sodium glow of a petrol station on an empty road. She works in thin glazes of oil on linen, so that her orange lights seem to sit on the surface while the teal shadows sink into it. Her first sale at Umber, in September 2026, set a record for the artist.
More by Zawadi Mrema