‘A small respite in the face of horror’: Sudanese artists fleeing war find a safe haven

Among the paintings that Nusreldin Eldouma left behind when he fled Sudan is a watercolour portrait showing a Sufi sage, a popular figure from Sudanese folklore. Painted last year – just before Sudan was dragged into war after a power struggle between two factions of the country’s military – it shows the 17th-century sheikh Farah wad Taktook, an icon of peace, says Eldouma. Now he only has photographs to show, the canvases that are his life’s work left behind in the ruins of the city of Khartoum.

Framed photographs of paintings are hung on a wall and laid out of a table. — Above: photographs Nusreldin Eldouma’s work displayed at his recent three-month residency at 32° East, and below his watercolour of a Sufi man, entitled Inner Peace. Photographs: Courtesy of 32° East/Nusreldin Eldouma

Watercolour painting of an older black man with white dreadlocks and beard wearing bead necklaces

“I like this painting because the character pursues simplicity and inner peace that appears in the features of his smiling face,” says Eldouma, one of four Sudanese artists now in exile in Uganda who recently completed a three-month residency at 32° East, an arts centre in the capital, Kampala.

The centre, which gave the artists accommodation, an allowance and materials, organises Kampala’s long-running public art festival, KLA ART, in August.

The sheikh’s peaceful demeanour is, says Eldouma, 55, in contrast to the current state of affairs in Sudan, where continuing hostility between the two warring sides has contributed to a cycle of violence that is pushing millions to the brink of famine.

Two African women with bowls on their heads piled high with goods look at each other. — Nusreldin Eldouma was forced to leave his work behind in Khartoum and has only photographs. Photograph: Courtesy of 32° East

Eldouma was caught up in the erupting civil war in Khartoum on 15 April 2023, his studio in the Imitidad Nasser neighbourhood just a street away from the airport, which was the site of clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), controlled by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti).

“It is worse than a nightmare to wake up in the morning and your utmost goal is to save yourself from stray bullets, not to mention thinking even for a moment about your art, the fruits of your effort,” Eldouma says.

A woven black and white image of a woman with long hair — One of the pieces muralist and textile artist Tanzil Abdallah Adam made using thread during her residency at the Kampala arts space. Photograph: Courtesy of 32° East

As the violence shut health clinics, Eldouma’s brother died, unable to access the kidney dialysis treatment he depended on.

A picture of a figure with orange, petal-like hair, green lips and a number of differently-sized eyes surrounded by green eyes, is taped to a piece of hardboard wall. BNExt to it are notes on post-its. — One of Tanzil Abdallah Adam’s designs .Photograph: Courtesy of 32° East

Also part of the 32° East residency, Tanzil Abdallah Adam was creating street art in public spaces in her home town of El Fasher, in west Sudan, but that was before the conflict began.

“Everything was going well. My career with the UN was promising, my art was prospering and I was surrounded by my loved ones,” she says. “Then the war happened and on the first day, eight of my colleagues and relatives died.”

During her residency Adam has been working with thread, incorporating crochet into her work.

A mixture of framed and unframed photographs by Mohammed Altaj hang on the wall — Above and below: photographs by Mohammed Altaj hang on the gallery’s walls. Photographs: Courtesy of 32° East

Another in residency is Mohammed Altaj, a film-maker and photographer, who was woken by a huge explosion on the first night of the conflict.

“As Sudanese, we are used to that,” he says, remembering the 2019 Khartoum massacre, the 2021 military coup and “all the terrible life-changing events that happened while we were asleep.”

Altaj has worked as a journalist in Khartoum and says there has been a “deliberate destruction and looting of media organisations” since the conflict began.

“This is directly affecting content creators and photographers,” he says. “Working in the media could expose one to the danger of being accused of espionage, treason or collaboration with either side.” He used his residency to work on a photographic project that tells the story of Sudan.

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Teesa Bahana, 32° East’s director, says: “While there is little we feel we can do to stop ongoing genocides, we saw how having spaces like these can be a small respite in the face of such horror.”

A woman sits on a chair underneath string bags full of coloured string, next to a table holding artists’ tools and materials, while a man looks on — Tanzil Abdallah Adam, seated in left photograph, and Nusreldin Eldouma, wearing a hat in right-hand photograph, speak to visitors during their residency at 32° East. Photograph: Courtesy of 32° East

Four men and a woman stand in a semi-circle looking at pictures on a wall. — Tanzil Abdallah Adam, seated in left photograph, and Nusreldin Eldouma, wearing a hat in right-hand photograph, speak to visitors during their residency at 32° East. Photograph: Courtesy of 32° East

Eldouma left Sudan in October, after being arrested and interrogated multiple times by military intelligence over his links to the 2018 protests which ended Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year regime in Sudan. Here he has mainly focused on drawing from life in the “charming city” of Kampala. He is “fascinated by its daily life and its picturesque natural landscapes of hills, waterfalls, means of transport and survival”.

“My artworks have been inspired by such beauty,” he says. “It is very important to immortalise such bright moments that fall between the rubble of life’s pressure.”