Nubian North of Sudan: Painting as Nubian Archeology

By Omar M. Saeed

My book describe Nubia North of Sudan; Human Nature and Art. Two natural forces symbolically divided Nubia :"The Nile River is mother and the desert is the father. It's also historically divided by Arab and African cross-cultural currents, which have over time created the Nubian people. The Nubian People's brown skin is a product if the blending and mixing of black and brown. Inspiring the flesh tones that i painted in my works. As the Nile River overflows its banks in each year, it inundates villages, destroying buildings, and killing trees and animals. Receding floodwaters reveal a surreal landscape of contour lines and debris, It is to this scarred, yet fertile land that the Nubian's return, in order to rebuild their life after a three or four months sojourn in the desert. It is the struggle-ridden landscape that serves as my artistic inspiration. As the Nile recedes and the land becomes dry and fertile families are anxious to rebuild their houses and struggle to make their land green. I too struggle to combine green and yellow in my painting in order to obtain a palette that represents the Nile and the Dessert, and the resilience of the Sudanese people. Very much lie the Nile that destroys the agricultural land and yet renders it fertile, my brushstrokes both destroy the background and express my love for the land. By using the thickness of oil colors, i attempt to depict cool and warm colors, while excluding the glare of the sun and the wind laden with burning sand. Once a background that consists of a decimated landscape has established itself upon my canvas. i add a large solitary figure in the foreground. This figure represents a physically powerful strong-spirited Sudanese who has decided to rebuild his/her life near the Nile River, thereby confronting their fears of future flooding, and ensuring their families survival by cultivating the soil closer to the river. these figures are rock-like and solid; they are able to endure with a standing the whims of nature. In this way i convey the strengths of my people. i endeavor to relate the unsettled life that they endure as they move in and out of the desert. The harshness of Sudanese life is reflected in the passion of my brushwork, which is rough and textured but also smooth in the same area. To achieve this emotional passion, i use powerful strokes to render the strong Nubian figure(s), and especially violent brushstrokes when i act in the role of the river, flooding and obliterating that which lies in my path. I assume the role of the Nile River by using imaginative empathy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1530652073
• ISBN13: 9781530652075
• Release Date: March 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.3" x 5.3"