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Artist gives insight into life in Sudan

ABU DHABI - An art exhibition by Sudanese artist Nassir Bakheet was opened at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation on Sunday evening by Shaikh Zayed bin Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The exhibition, which features about 30 paintings, mostly water colours, and some oil paintings, will conclude on May 20.

It showcases several endearing vignettes of everyday life in Sudan, from the oil image of a Sudanese man and woman aboard a moving bus, talking to each other in a casual manner to the cowherd driving his oxen across a river, to the water colour images of a shoe-shine man engrossed in his work, while people standing around him cast long shadows, harking back to famine and malnourishment among the Sudanese people.

Nassir Bakheet told Khaleej Times that Sudan was entrenched in his psyche, making it absolutely vital for him, as an artist to portray different aspects of Sudanese life, culture and tradition. His works at the exhibition display a greater penchant for water colours as his chosen medium, although he explained that he had tried working with a variety of materials.

Other indelible works are his images of goats grazing on a barren plain with occasional splashes of green, and the busy Sudan streets, which so akin to Indian roads, even depict an auto-rickshaw!

With his realistic themes, and true-to-life colours, the artist pointed out that it was his aim not to do anything ostentatious, but simply reflect the country for what it is.

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