By Beverly Andrews
Sudan has a long and complex history. It was home to some of the world’s oldest kingdoms, including the great Kingdom of Kush, which conquered Ancient Egypt and formed its 25th Dynasty of Pharaohs—also known as the legendary Black Pharaohs (photo by Matthias Gehricke). Archaeologists have noted that there are actually more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt itself.
And yet contemporary history has not been kind to the country, which has witnessed countless invasions—a contributing factor to its present-day political and religious divisions. After years of authoritarian rule, mass protests led largely by young Sudanese resulted in a civilian government being momentarily sworn in, bringing with it hope for a different future. Led by economist Abdalla Hamdok, the new administration worked to stabilize the country’s weak economy. But that government fell to a coup, and although Hamdok was eventually reinstated, growing tensions between two rival military factions have now led to a brutal civil war, financed, it seems, by outside actors.
But Sudan Retold, a project ten years in the making and created by artists, writers, and curators, seeks to tell a different story of the country—one that highlights its greatest asset: its people. This story is told through both a beautiful art exhibition and a book. Sudan Retold is a must-see for anyone fascinated by this ancient land and eager to view it through the eyes of those who live there.
The Almas Art Foundation, which has curated both the exhibition and the book, describes the project as follows: “What began as an effort to tell Sudanese (his)stories differently has become a way of holding on to memory and place when both are under threat. The exhibition and the book draw on personal archives, oral histories, forgotten objects, and speculative figures—not to reconstruct a singular past, but to open space for layered, plural understandings of Sudan.”
The artwork on display is hauntingly beautiful and offers a window into the lives of ordinary Sudanese people, revealing a country with a rich and complex cultural heritage—one very different from the images we so often see on our television screens.
For anyone who cares about this beautiful and mysterious land, Sudan Retold is a powerful and intriguing exhibition. It captures a nation currently under threat, but one whose greatest asset—its people—suggests that once the fighting finally ends, they may yet build a very different future.
By Beverly Andrews, London, November 3rd, 2025.
Sudan Retold continues at Almas Art Foundation Gallery, Arch 28, Old Union Yard Arches, 229 Union Street, London SE1 0LR.
