SAMA to Launch Art for Sudan Initiative

Sudanese American Medical Association (SAMA) is set to launch Art for Sudan on 29 April 2023, selling canvas paintings by Sudanese artists online and at Downtown Gallery.

‘Art, knowledge and health bring people together and promote empathy. Art is intrinsically linked to how we communicate, learn and understand each other; a universal language. This aligns closely with the Sudanese American Medical Association’s (SAMA) objective of spreading knowledge without barriers (#Knowledege_Without_Barriers),’ said SAMA.

SAMA is a non-profit, non-political, educational and humanitarian organisation with aim to improve the health and well-being of their communities through services, capacity building, and education/research advance medical knowledge, develop and maintain the highest professional and ethical standards of medical practice and health care through scientific, educational, and charitable initiatives. According to SAMA, art is a source of joy and happiness, an increasingly recognised value in learning and healthcare environments. 

With that in mind, Downtown Gallery, one of the leading galleries in Khartoum, Sudan; the Sudanese Peace and Music Festival (SPMF), a non-profit undertaking the vision of empowering Sudanese artists, musicians, and creatives by providing them with a collaborative platform that showcases their art both at home and abroad; and SAMA are teaming up to support Sudanese art with the objective of spreading knowledge without barriers.

Artwork by Sudanese artists, Suzan ibrahim, Waleed Mohammed and Ameer Yousif will go on sale on SAMA’s website to a global audience. The artwork has been selected by Downtown Gallery, and all logistics is handled by SAMA’s Sudan office. 

Suzan Ibrahim Mahjoub is a visual artist and painter based in Sudan. By using abstract and semi-abstract techniques, her paintings reflect the diversity and richness of Sudanese culture. Suzan addresses themes that are mostly symbolic and indirect. The figure of the woman is often represented in her paintings. She paints the woman as a sign of love, strength, and pride – as a symbol of Earth, of happiness, and joy – in a state of stillness and in anticipation of a better tomorrow. In addition, Suzan paints murals as part of her activism in the revolution in Sudan. She believes that the documentation of revolutions is important. facebook.com/profile

Born in Khartoum in 2000, Waleed Mohammed is a contemporary artist currently pursuing a bachelor’s of art in painting at the College of Fine and Applied Arts. His work has been exhibited in many exhibitions in Khartoum, including his debut solo exhibition, Reverse, in Downtown Gallery in 2022. He then opened his own studio in Khartoum. His artwork stem from inspiration from old photographs. He believes his style was adopted to communicate the great influence from the pictures that he is working on for forming his identity.

Born in Medani in 1979, Ameer Yousif graduated from the college of education at Sudan University of Science and Technology in 2007 with a bachelor in Design. Ameer paints a lot of semi-realism and abstractions as he believes more expression is achieved through abstract work. His artwork also includes plenty of symbolism as it is the result of profound thinking and extraction of the artist’s visual inventory, which is received through contemplation of the culture or cultures they are surrounded by. It is why in the artwork of Ameer, many Sudanese traditional symbols are scene which reflect that heritage. Ameer’s work has been exhibited in various galleries locally and internationally, including the French Institute in Khartoum, Umoja Gallery in Uganda, and Alliance Fransaise in Tanzania.

For more information, visit sama-sd.org/art-for-sudan