In view of the ongoing fighting in Sudan, the Goethe-Institut Sudan, the Goethe-Institut in Exile and the Goethe-Institut Bonn are showing in cooperation with the gallery Mouches Volantes, the Khartoum Downtown Gallery and the curators Rahiem Shadad and Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann, works by Sudanese artists. The exhibition draws more attention to the current situation in the country, sets a sign of solidarity and thus supports local artists who are in exile or are still there.

Collective trauma can be incredibly powerful in its ability to shift perspectives and impact a community. Times in Sudan's history bear witness to a tide of radical experiences that leave it stained and cracked. With each new generation, a new sequence of events seems to unfold.

Known locally as "Haboob," the sandstorms move from the northeast to the southwest, traversing the vast land that surrounds the Nile and is framed by two bodies of water. The soil of Sudan breathes life into this fertile landscape, making it one of the largest agricultural regions in the world. It is a country that is rich and poor at the same time.

The word "Nubia" means "gold", which is associated with vitality in Sudan. It symbolizes value, but has always been a projection screen for memories and storytelling. During the Kingdom of Kush, gold was buried alongside kings and queens to honor wealth and their heritage. Today, husbands give their wives gold, which is passed down through generations through women to preserve family history and identity. Gold has never been viewed in sheer quantity, but rather as a highly charged symbol. Today, when it is said that a woman has "sold her gold," it means that her life has hit rock bottom. There is great misfortune in this family. At the same time, a man is expected never to ask his wife to sell her gold.

There is now a collective narrative in the mention of gold, one that causes shivers to be heard when spoken of. "We've all sold our gold." On April 15, 2023, Sudan hit rock bottom. A nation had given up their gold. Fighting between Sudanese forces and the gold-funded Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is devastating the country and reducing the city of Khartoum to rubble. The conflict shows once again the importance of promoting democratic approaches of the kind that have begun to be active in Sudan since the revolution.

The works presented invite you to experience different perspectives of resilience - of enduring, of persevering, of resistance - in the midst of this shock. They illustrate the different mental experiences before and during military conflicts. The exhibition aims to stimulate reflection on the deep sense of new beginnings experienced by those displaced by the conflict. She humanizes statistics and turns them into tangible experiences captured by time and objects. We pay tribute to the brave artists and creatives who have refused to be silenced.

This exhibition on the premises of the gallery Mouches Volantes is intended to counteract the global North's slowly beginning disinterest in this war and the inherent structural racism (towards BIPoC, Muslims, people of sub-Saharan Africa) and to break down existing prejudices against Africans . The exhibition partly shows works that found their way to Germany via Egypt or other (escape) routes and is the first in Europe since the beginning of the renewed fighting and as such draws attention to the situation in Sudan.

Artists:

© Amna Elhassan

Amna Elhassan finds her inspiration in the physical, spiritual, and spatial transformative processes experienced by women in her community. Women's challenges and emancipatory struggles are at the core of her work, which crosses several mediums, including printmaking and oil painting. Tackling issues such as the perception of the female body in both the public and private spheres, Elhassan's work contributes to the conversation surrounding women's status in today's society.

© Khalid Abdel Rahman

Khalid Abdel Rahman has a very characteristic style of abstract architectural scenes from the Khartoum neighborhoods. It documents a slowly disappearing middle class, either because they work with the government or because they leave the country in search of better living conditions. The bright and somber colors of these empty neighborhoods reflect the reality of a class and an endangered people. It's like a surreal scene taken from a memory seen in a dream.

© Reem Aljeally

Reem Aljeally is an architect turned visual artist and aspiring curator with a great passion for channeling her talents towards addressing social issues and challenging social change. She established The Muse multi studios in 2019, an integrative regional artistic organization, and founded Bait Alnisa in 2020 to promote and curate Sudanese female art.

© Ala Kheir

Ala Kheir is a photographer based in Khartoum, Sudan. He is the co-founder of the Sudanese Photographers Group. Through photography, Kheir actively engages with the city of Khartoum, creating personal perspectives and narratives about his immediate space.

© Hashim Nasr

Hashim Nasr is a Khartoum-born, self-taught photographer known for his multidisciplinary practice, incorporating various mediums into his artworks, including mirrors, flowers, fabric materials, and other daily domestic objects.

© Waleed Mohammed

Waleed Mohammed is a Sudanese contemporary artist, born and raised in Khartoum, Sudan. His artworks are inspired by old photographs, and he has developed his style to communicate the great influence the pictures have on forming his identity.

© Mohammed Ohaj

Mohammed Ohaj is from Sudan, born in Port Sudan, a visual artist, and a student at the College of Fine Arts. Mohammed is interested in reflecting the culture of local communities and their role in shaping the cultural identity of the individual. He visually tries to shed light on the material and moral legacies of culturally marginalized peoples.


The exhibition was curated and organized by Rahiem Shadad and Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann.

© Rahiem Shadad

Rahiem Shadad is a curator from Khartoum who has been engaged with the art scene since 2015. He co-founded Downtown Gallery in Khartoum in 2019 with the goal of providing a space that cements the rise that has occurred in the art scene post-revolution. He is an ARAK Collection Fellow Curator. His curatorial approach focuses on how art registers the social and political
changes the community goes through. Rahiem is one of the organizers of the campaign to support the art community during the current war in Sudan.

© Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann

Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann is a curator and researcher at the crossroads of art and activism. Her work revolves around critical practice and collaborative exploration. After spending a semester as an undergraduate student at Khartoum University, she worked for nearly a decade in Sudan's art scene as a curator and cultural manager. She co-curated the exhibition "Mindbombs - Visual Cultures of Political Violence" at Kunsthalle Mannheim and curated "Deconstructed Bodies - In Search of Home" by Sudanese artist Amna Elhassan at Schirn Kunsthalle. She is a co-editor of "Sudan Retold" and co-founder of Art Relief for Sudan.

accompanying Programme:

July 19, 7 pm: Guided tour with Rahiem Shadad (English)
July 20, 7 pm: Guided tour with Rahiem Shadad (Arabic)
July 21, 7 pm: Performance by Rahiem Shadad
July 21, 7:30 pm: Artist talk with Rahiem Shadad, Amna Elhassan and Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann (English, live stream on Instagram)

More information:

WDR3: Das bedrohte Gold der Großmütter: Sudanesische Kunst in Köln 

Deutsche Welle: Sudanesische Kunst als Weckruf


The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Sudan, the Goethe-Institut Bonn, the Goethe-Institut in Exile and the Khartoum Downtown Gallery.