Colours of hope
Hope against despair – that’s the living truth of a refugee’s existence. Sudanese artist Abdul Wahab M. Nour gives an insider’s view of the plight of refugees in his exhibition, African Dreams at the Ajman Kempinski Hotel & Resort art gallery. Surprisingly though, for all the pain they seek to capture, his paintings are brilliantly hued. He believes that the most emotional moments are also the most beautiful. Rajeev Nair writes
Routine recon of trouble-torn areas in Africa from the sky would unveil before Abdul Wahab M. Nour large stretches of darken ash. They lay scattered amidst piles of partially burned wood, where once houses were; where once children played; where once women gathered together to collect firewood, gossip and live their life of bittersweet moments.
Blame it on whatever; the truth remains that the residents of these villages are now displaced. They are on the move or stationed temporarily in some makeshift refugee camp. Hope alone drives them. Hope that one day they can return to their villages; hope that the relatives who are missing are secure; hope that life will bloom again.
Hope against despair is the plight of refugees and that is the dominant theme of the exhibition, African Dreams, by Sudanese artist Abdul Wahab M. Nour at the Ajman Kempinski Hotel & Resort art gallery. The exhibition, organised by Dawn 2000, showcases paintings that have been inspired by Nour’s Sudanese roots as also during his work with Unicef.
A graduate from the Khartoum College of Fine and Applied Art in graphic design, Nour was working with the international agency as a graphic artist, rendering sketches for the organisation, creating posters, brochures and pamphlets for distribution, and the job would occasionally take him to trouble-torn areas.
However, what could surprise visitors to the gallery is the brilliant colours Nour employs in his paintings. The misery is an underlying streak; what is obvious is Africa — its sun, the light and the colours.
Nour does not focus on faces; his objects are people — groups of them, mostly on the move. On the backdrop is a dark patch of emptiness — that’s where they come from, from where they were forced to move out. Dominating virtually every picture on exhibit is the sun, which Nour says is only to balance out the picture, and also to symbolise the rich light of Africa.
Some of the paintings — in concentrated water colours, acrylic — are strikingly similar. That, Nour explains, gives continuity to the series. But study the pictures separately, and the individuality of each work comes to the forefront. “It is like a poem, you have to give links between the verses,” he adds.
For Nour, art is an extension of his upbringing. His family — the women particularly — made handicrafts, mostly from palm tree leaves. Going to the Fine Art College was therefore, for Nour, an obvious choice. However, today, he concentrates more on painting, not graphic art, because it gives him greater freedom. “As a graphic artist, your creativity is restricted to client approval,” says Nour.
His home in Elrahad adjoins a lake by the same name. There are a lot of gardens, he recalls. The colours of nature stay on with him in his art. He has exhibited extensively in Sudan, Syria, Jordan, Kenya and the UAE, and the Ajman Kempinski autumn exhibition, which is on till November, is his tenth solo.
Currently, based in Sharjah, working on many commissioned projects for hotels and companies, Nour says the message of African Dreams is peace. The bright colours that go with the paintings that depict strife and misery at its core are deliberate, he says. “The saddest object is also the most beautiful.”
And to prove a point he refers to the Hindi films, which he had watched with enthusiasm in Sudan. “I forgot the name of the film. Translated it means, “For my Children…” it was a touching tale, and it was a colourful film.”
His paintings are representative of whole of Africa, says Nour. He depicts people of many countries and communities, and ladies dominate the renderings because “they are more flexible and easy to make shapes,” says Nour.
There is a contrast between the happy past and a painful today in Nour’s paintings. Womenfolk gathered around a lush green landscape are a painful presence amidst the barren black in the background — a subtle reminder of what they have lost. It is not just the material possessions; it’s their life itself.
Nour likes African mornings. He likes to watch the sun’s rays reflecting on the moist greens. That, he feels, is when nature is at her pristine best.
African artists, he says, are often ignored. That is not because the region does not have adequate art training and exposure. “The College of Fine Arts is Khartoum, for example, is more than 70 years old, and every year over 100 artists graduate. However, there are hardly about 20 international artists from the region,” he says. “Look into any book on 20th century art. How many African artists can you find?” There is no anger in his words. He just states it in a matter of fact tone.
For him, what is more pertinent is to create, to paint — not according to some one’s dictums. But following his heart…one that beats for the pain Africa endures.
