During the opening of his exhibition, Indigo Hypoxia, at the Goethe-Institut in Nairobi, Sudanese artist Sannad Shreef spent the entire evening with his face covered. Even as visitors wandered through the gallery and he completed a live painting, he never revealed himself.
It was not performance art. For months during Sudan’s civil war in 2023, Shreef had lived in near isolation, spending most of his days locked inside his studio, emerging only to search for food and art supplies as fighting engulfed his hometown.
Interaction with other humans was minimal as a full blown war tore his beloved city apart. Painting became less an artistic pursuit than a way to survive.
Yet, unlike many Sudanese artists whose recent work is dominated by the war, Indigo Hypoxia is not an exhibition about conflict. Instead, it explores colour, emotion and intuition. If the war appears anywhere in the work, it is in the way Shreef now paints-building, destroying and rebuilding his canvases, much as he has had to rebuild his own life after fleeing to Kenya.
Sannad’s journey with art began when he was three years old, painting in his father’s studio in Tartar. His father was a painter who also taught children art in his hometown. This was all the art education Sannad would get. Instead of joining art school, he studied mass media in university and narrowed down to writing and filmmaking, all while painting in his studio.
Sannad’s life would however take a dark turn when war hit his hometown in Sudan in 2023. He says his paints and brushes kept him from losing his mind. At the end of the war, he fled the country to preserve his life, leaving all his paintings and works in Sudan.
In Kenya, he started a new life, showcasing his painting work and surviving on commissions. The was split his family, with some seeking asylum as far as Egypt, Qatar and Dubai.
‘I lost all my paintings because I couldn’t save them and myself at the same time. At the moment, I am trying to live off my art fully which hasn’t been easy but the experience is worth it,’ he says.
For Sannad, the war is an experience he does not like speaking about because of the pain and damage it has caused him, his family and his loved one. Unlike many of his counterparts from Sudan like Issam Haffiez and Mohamed Abushaaria, the war has been no motivation for any of his works
‘I don’t know about the political things surrounding the war, all that happened is that we lost a lot of things. When I create art, sometimes I destroy it to create more art. The war has taught me how to let go and then rebuild. To create, one has to learn how to start over,’ he says.
Indigo Hypoxia is Sannad’s way of having conversations with colour, which he says chose him.
It results from the thoughts about people and life, and the faces he meets daily. It richly explores colours, especially purple, and the range of human emotions directly.
Sannad’s subjects, in retrospect, convey his emotions better than he expresses them in word. He describes Indigo Hypoxia is an imprint of conflicting emotions, a show in which human emotions occupy space, creating feelings and perceptions.
‘It is not about the war or the emotions from the war. I was just moving my hand and creating as I felt. When people ask me about my art, I tell them that it isn’t always about the war. I create it as I feel. My work has always come from the depth of my emotions and an ongoing search for meaning. That has not changed. I still have time to create more art on the subject.’
He says Kenya has been kind to him regardless of the homesickness and longing for home.
‘What I miss most is my studio. It was the place where I felt free to experiment without limits. I did not bring my tools of work, but I brought the way I work. I still trust intuition and let the work grow naturally wherever I am. In Kenya, I have enjoyed the openness of the art scene. People are supportive and there are numerous opportunities for artists to grow and connect,’ he says.