Artist Salah Elmur: ‘I have to come back to Khartoum every now and then to fill my imagination and my vision’:

The Guardian

Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Khartoum

As his show inspired by water and electricity opens in London, the Sudanese painter talks about the challenges his country faces and his optimism for the future:

Since he was a child growing up beside the banks of the Blue Nile in Khartoum, Salah Elmur has been fascinated by water and electricity. “

I don’t only mean the water that comes from taps at home, I mean water in the seas and, I mean the rain, I mean fishing by fishermen, I mean water in dams and all the water in this planet …

The 56-year-old artist, whose work based around these two elements forms the core of a joint exhibition that opened in London this month that he even mean the towers of the water and their beauty and their different shapes standing in the middle of the cities here in Sudan, and the lines of the electricity and their stations..”

Elmur says his work is heavily influenced by the sights and sounds of life in Sudan, even though he’s now based in Egypt. “Sudan, with its rich diversity, culturally and ethnically, is the main form of inspiration. I go out of the country for a few months but I have to come back to Khartoum every now and then just to recharge myself and to fill my imagination and my vision.”

Elmur has had huge success in Africa – where his blend of Nubian and African traditions have attracted admirers – and in the Middle East, Europe and the US. As well as paintings, he has also directed six short documentaries and fantasy films, which have been shown at international festivals, and published a number of children’s books.

But his artistic career had a rocky start. After graduating from Sudan University of Science and Technology in 1989 with a degree in graphic design, Elmur worked as a designer at Sudanow magazine. His time there coincided with a military-backed coup that brought Omar al-Bashir to power and it wasn’t long before his work made him enemies. “I fled to Kenya when they [security forces] arrested me for drawing a cartoon for the magazine depicting the coup,” he says.

He lived in Nairobi for four years before moving to Egypt. The father of five now divides his time between Cairo and the Sudanese capital, which is developing its arts scene. Six galleries have opened in Khartoum since January.