Fixing Time
Salah Elmur
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From his studio in Cairo, artist Salah Elmur sifts through memories held in the “boxes of his mind” to paint dream-like images of life in Khartoum, Sudan, the home he longs to return to. Referencing photographs found in his father’s archive or purchased from collectors in Cairo, Elmur’s surreal compositions combine the documentary and the subjective, capturing the essence of Khartoum. “Ninety percent of my art comes out of Sudan,” says the artist. “I remember the dams, the swimmers, the electricity towers, lovers sitting by the river, horses passing. I feel nostalgia for my past.” Today, Elmur is unable to return to Khartoum due to political conflict, censorship, and war. This documentary short follows the artist’s journey to the past through his paintings, drawing from his vast photographic archive to paint idyllic images of his childhood spent alongside the Blue Nile contrasted with images of imprisonment and violence that emerge from Sudan today.
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About the artists
Salah Elmur was born in 1966 in Khartoum, Sudan, and lives and works in Cairo, Egypt. He received his BA in Graphic Design from the College of Fine and Applied Art at Sudan University, in 1989. Elmur draws inspiration from his vast archive of Sudanese portrait photography to create dreamlike paintings that reflect his memories of Sudan, his cultural heritage, and his own political commentary. Weaving together the documentary and the fantastical, he draws on his personal experiences to explore universal themes such as nostalgia, community, conflict, and censorship.
