The new and updated version of Sudan Retold was launched in Doha, Qatar on 19 September 2025, accompanied by a special art exhibition at Alhosh Gallery in The Pearl Island.
The book launch and exhibition was part of Seeing Sudan: Politics Through Art, a first-of-kind conference and intellectual gathering of acclaimed Sudanese artists, scholars, thinkers and creatives organised by Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) to shed light on the war in Sudan and bring attention to the thousands dead and millions displaced, and offered a roadmap to post-war recovery that ensures the preservation.
Presented by lmas Art Foundation with GU-Q and Alhosh Gallery as publishing partners, the book is edited by German ethnologist Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann, Sudanese artist Khalid Albaih, and Sudanese-Russian researcher and filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani.
The first edition of the book titled Sudan Retold: An Art Book About the History and Future of Sudan was originally published in 2019, curated and edited by Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann and Khalid Albaih, consisting of 31 chapters each contributed by different Sudanese artists, writers, illustrators, designers, photographers and a chef.
Curated by Fuhrmann, Albaih, Mirghani and Sudanese artist Rahiem Shadad, the accompanying exhibition presents a compelling journey through photography, painting and multimedia installations. Sudan Retold draws on personal archives, oral histories, forgotten objects and speculative figures. It invites visitors to explore the rich and multifaceted stories of Sudan, shaped by many cultures, religions, languages and histories, yet too often reduced to a single narrative.
At the fully-packed opening of the exhibition, Fuhrmann, a researcher at Peace Research Institute, and exhibition co-curator, said, “Who is missing right now are the artists in this room, barely any of them are here, and I want to dedicate this moment to them. While their art can travel, the artists can’t, they are trapped.”
Participating artists include:
Visual artists and curators: Alaa Satir, Enas Satir, Amna Elhassan, Reem Aljealy (founder of The Muse Multi Studios and Sudan Art Archive), Hazim Al Hussain, Khalid Abd Elrahman, Waleed Mohammed, Ola Hassanain, Wael Al Sanosi, Hosam Kabri, Yasmeen Abdullah, Reham Mohamed, Sahar Abdalla, Sara Amin, Enas Eltayeb (founder of Al Fanjariya Studio), and Dar Al Naim (Sudanese-Spanish artist and founder of Dara Art Gallery).
Filmmakers and producers: Yasir Faiz and Mazin Gamar.
Photographers and illustrators: Ahmed Abushakeema, Yakam Dudes, Ayat R H Ahmed, Badri Ibrahim (creator of Abbas Comics), and Tala Gadir.
Other collaborators include Locale, a platform to exhibit, design, and collaborate with Sudanese artists, musician Sammany Hajo, and Mohamed Dardiri (Sudanese-American contemporary designer and founder of Art, Design & Audio Connect).
The Sudan Retold exhibition is currently on view at Alhosh Gallery in Doha, Qatar from 19 to 28 September 2025, and will open at Almas Art Foundation in London, England from 14 October to 14 December 2025.
