SHARJAH.- This major historical survey takes a closer look at the modernist art movement in Sudan. Organised around the foundational figures and pivotal moments of the Khartoum School, the exhibition spans the mid-20th century, includingthe last two decades of British colonial rule, as well as the postcolonial eras up to the present day to reflect on the nuanced visual vocabulary and complex legacy of the movement.

Coined in the early 1960s, the ‘Khartoum School’ is a much contested term; many founders disavowed it, and others rebelled against it, even though they were stylistically and aesthetically connected with it as a movement. This exhibition uses the all-encompassing term to signify the dynamic, multi-faceted and fluid movement that influenced the development of modernism, not just in Sudan, but also more broadly in Africa and the entire Arab world.

Drawing on never-before-shown archival material, this exhibition is an effort to document the history of the movement and distil the ideas behind it. Juxtaposing paintings and drawings – the traditional genres of visual arts in which most Sudanese modernist artists were active – with pottery, ceramics, sculpture, photography, film, video and performances, this interdisciplinary show highlights both the breadth of modernism in Sudan and the interrelated nature of its various genres, sub-movements and groups. The exhibition explores the depth of the aesthetics of the Khartoum School and its diverse styles. It traces the early generation of artists of the modernist movement in Sudan, such as Osman Waqialla, Ibrahim El Salahi, Bastawi Baghdadi, Ahmed Shibrain, Abdelrazig Abdelghaffar, Mohammad Omer Khalil, Taglesir Ahmed, Shaigi Rahim, Siddig El Nigoumi, Magdoub Rabbah, Hussein Shariffe, Ahmed Hamid Al Arabi and Griselda Eltayeb. The works of these pioneers merged Western modernist conventions of form and style with their own visual vocabulary, subject matter and Sudanese aesthetics. Works by relatively younger artists whose careers overlapped with the early pioneers, such as Salih Mashamoun, are also presented. These revolutionaries fashioned an aesthetic and identity that was distinctly ‘Sudanese’, but also transcended its national boundaries to include continental African and Islamic motifs and elements.

This exhibition also presents the work of the Crystalist Group, Madrasat Al Wahid [School of the One] and artist-critics such as Hassan Musa and Abdalla Bola, who have enriched the art scene through their art practice as well as their critical interventions and writings since the early 1970s. These three major artist groups sought to distance themselves from the ideology and visual vocabulary of the earlier generation of the Khartoum School. In highlighting these groups and artists, the exhibition demonstrates that the intellectual and conceptual practices of Sudanese artists are inseparable from global conceptualism as a movement.

The solidification of British colonial rule in Sudan was supported by amateur photographs taken by British soldiers, merchants and travellers as early as 1899. This exhibition demonstrates how film, the press and other mass media have all been crucial to modernity since the advent of British colonial rule and through the postcolonial era. The exhibition highlights the work of two pioneer master-photographers, Rashid Mahdi and Gadalla Gubara, as well as other studio photographers, for example, Abbas Habib Alla, Mohamed Yahya Issa, Fouad Hamza Tibin, Osman Hamid Khalifa, Omar Addow, Richard Lokiden Wani and Joua, in the context of the historical linkages between photography, decolonisation and self-representation.

The press has always been a site of resistance to colonialism as well as a vibrant space to debate Sudanese identity and modernity in the context of decolonisation. Cartoons in daily newspapers and magazines gained popularity, especially in the aftermath of the 1964 revolution, and became an effective tool of criticism in socio-political arenas. The exhibition features political cartoons by not only seasoned pioneers such as the late Izz El Din Osman and Hashim Carori but also the work of contemporary cartoonist Khalid Albaih, who has become well known for his biting humour and sharp commentary on issues ranging from human rights to migration and regional conflicts.

The exhibition also includes a selected number of works by individual Sudanese and Sudanese diaspora artists, such as the Sudan Film Factory, Sudanese Film Club and Black and White Group, who are all active in the contemporary art scene locally and internationally.