I grew up in a small town (Atbara) on the eastern bank of the Nile in northern Sudan. Parallel to the river and less than 5 kilometers to the east runs the railway line from the north to the south. All the houses were built out of adobe, with farms filling the rest of the space up to the river edge and the islands. Trains used to come all the time, day and night, carrying goods, cattle, and people.

As young kids, we used to stand close to the railway line for hours watching the trains coming from a distance to pass in front of us and disappear again in the distance. We waved to the passengers who were sticking their dusty, tired faces out of the windows and few of them waved back. Other days we used to walk to the riverbank, watching the muddy brown waves carrying wood logs, whole trees, dead animal bodies, and anything else swept away on their long journey from far away. As young kids, those were the boundaries of our world.

I worked on archaeological sites for many years, and was fascinated with the way archaeologist always starts from the surface, removing carefully the earth layer after layer to reveal a settlement that has been buried for thousand of years. This is the same way I approach the surface when I am painting. When I look at a blank canvas, I see elusive and mysterious images that are waiting to be revealed. Using a brush and a few colours, I start revealing those images layer after layer.

I listen passionately to a wide range of music, from classical to ethnic. Whether it is the drama of a Stravinsky piece or the rhythm of a solo guitar song by the Mali Ali Farka Troure, each in a different way, captivates my soul and inspire my work.

My paintings are diaries of my life journey, about places I saw and people I knew.

EDUCATION

Master of Fine Arts, College of Fine Arts, Germany.
Post-Graduate Diploma in Education, Higher Teacher Training Institute, Sudan.

First Class Diploma in Fine Arts, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Sudan.

LANGUAGES:

Fluent in Arabic, English, and German.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Women’s College, UAE.

College of Fine and Applied Arts, Khartoum, Sudan..

King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

SELECTED ART EXHIBITIONS

Exhibited in Canada, the USA, Germany, Brunei, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, The U.A.E.

  • Virginia Commonwealth University Gallery, Tawasel Art Exhibition, Doha, Qatar

  • Radford University, Flossie Martin Art Gallery Virginia, USA

  • Sobot Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada.

  • Brunei National Museum, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

  • Fifth International Fine Art Biennial, Sharjah, UAE

  • Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi, UAE

  • Saudia Airlines Art Competition, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Gold Medal Winner).

  • Roemerskirchen Art Gallery, Bonn Badgodesburg, Germany