Sudan in ink

26 May 2010

Sudan in ink

Chinese oil worker Su Ning had only a vague idea where Sudan was and knew almost nothing about it before his arrival in Khartoum in 2002.
Since then, he has published three books of drawings on Sudan while in the country and a fourth in his homeland.
"When I first viewed the country from the plane, the impression was 'hot! so hot!'," recalled Mr. Su, now back in China.
An economist by profession, Mr. Su came to work in Sudan with an oil company. His business travels, which took him to northern and eastern towns, including Heglig, Baleela, Babanus, Jebel Ain, Kosti and Port Sudan, allowed him a glimpse of rural as well as city life.
He published his first book of drawings -- Sudan In My Eyes -- in 2005, followed by Habibi Sudan and Lonely Suakin in 2009. The pictures, painted mainly with Chinese brush, marking pen and plain as well as traditional Chinese ink, capture moments of everyday, rural northern Sudan and its people.
"City life has lost the original taste, and (cities) are similar," said Mr. Su, explaining why he preferred to paint tea ladies in front of mud-brick houses, men in jallabiyas washing up in preparation for prayers and market scenes as well as donkey carts, while ignoring urban settings.
The compositions' fine lines grasp the essence of hot and slow Sudanese days, even without using colour. Leafing through the book, one is left with the impression that Sudanese life happens in the open, among the young and old of the family, with several goats an arm's reach away.
Mr. Su, who studied drawing with two Chinese masters between the ages of four and 17, recently published Nile Nile in his hometown Guilin. The book, which contains drawings, photos and poems in his native language, is the first travel book about Sudan by a Chinese author.
Su Ning's books are available at Marawi bookstore, Parliament Street and Burj Al-Fateh Hotel, Khartoum