Visual arts of Sudan

rdf:langString Visual arts of Sudan

rdf:langString The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture

rdf:langString After graduating in Khartoum, many of the students studied in London, where they were introduced to the products of different cultures, including African and Islamic arts exhibited in British museums and galleries. This opportunity to study their own artistic traditions came at a time when Sudanese nationalism was at its peak . On returning to Sudan they were highly conscious of their artistic heritage and of the value of indigenous crafts. They began to define themselves as Sudanese artists and developed styles based in their own cultures, using the motifs and patterns of Sudanese Arabic calligraphy and craft works. The absence of a tradition in painting and sculpture left room for exploring indigenous cultures with a fresh vision and gave rise to new trends in contemporary Sudanese art.

rdf:langString The visual arts of Sudan encompass the historical and contemporary production of objects made by the inhabitants of today's Republic of the Sudan and specific to their respective cultures. This encompasses objects from cultural traditions of the region in North-East Africa historically referred to as the Sudan, including the southern regions that became independent as South Sudan in 2011. Throughout its history, Sudan has been a crossroads between central Africa, East Africa, Egypt, Mediterranean cultures, sub-Saharan Africa in the west and the Red Sea coast in the east of the country. Before the 20th century, these cultural traditions were influenced by indigenous African, Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Byzantine and Arabic cultures that have brought about a large diversity of cultural expressions, often specific to the ethnic or social group that produced and used them. As expressions of the material culture of a society, applied arts and handicrafts are included with the fine arts in this history of the arts in Sudan. Starting in the early 19th century, the establishment of first the Turkish-Egyptian and later the Anglo-Egyptian rule, characterised by foreign military and political domination, ushered in the gradual evolution of a modern nation state with new cultural influences on the lifestyles and material culture of the Sudanese. After independence in 1956, Sudanese graduates of the colonial education system took over leading positions in the new state and thus contributed to the emergence of urban culture and modern art. These cultural developments became most visible from the 1950s to the 1980s, a period that was later called "The Making of the Modern Art Movement in Sudan". In the 21st century, visual artistic developments in the country have been characterised by digital forms of communication, including audio-visual art spread and received through satellite television, online media as well as images and films shared through social media. During the Sudanese Revolution of 2018 and 2019, young artists contributed to the protests and morale of the popular movement, creating wall paintings, graffiti, cartoons, photographs or video messages.