The photography exhibition “Resistance in Memory: Visions of Sudan,” now showing at the Africa Center in East Harlem, features the work of 12 Sudanese photojournalists who have been documenting how Sudanese are surviving their nation’s ongoing civil war.
Since the country’s 2018-2019 revolution, ongoing clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have displaced nearly 13 million people, forced millions to flee into exile, and left many facing famine.
With the conflict continuing, Edith Arance, who curated “Resistance in Memory” in collaboration with Africa Center’s Evelyn Owen, explained that “these images honor the voices of Sudan’s youth, who documented their experiences during the eruption of war — leaving a powerful record of loss, grief, and hope.” The photographers, six of whom still live in the country, have created images that highlight the people still living in Sudan and trying to survive there. The exhibition also includes texts by New York-based Sudanese American poet Dalia Elhassan, who says she felt called on to help showcase the hope and pride in Sudanese heritage to New York audiences.
Suha Barakat’s “The Revolution, 2019” captures the excitement the Sudanese people felt during the 2019 change of government. A young woman is the focus of a street scene where crowds gather to welcome the soldiers who fought for the revolution. She seems so excited that she has to calm herself.
Al Mujtaba Ahmed shows how the devastation caused by subsequent raids and battles has led to fires that leave little for people to hold onto. In his piece, “The Crown Among the Fire, 2024,” a man sits on the only remaining chair that provides him comfort, while behind him, his home has been torched. Meanwhile, Abdelsalam Abd Allah’s “The Road Traveled” (Kreinik, West Darfur, October 2024) highlights the bare feet of women who have had to walk miles with their children in tow, just to find water.
In Ammar Yassir’s “Coexistence, I Will Never Find Home” series, 2025, viewers see the haunting perspective of a Sudanese person who has fled violence and is trying to live elsewhere, yet still feels out of place.
In Marwan Mohamed’s “Premature Caretaking,” viewers confront how young children are forced to look after their siblings when parents die or leave them alone for long stretches. In “Absent Presence, 2022,” photographer Altayeb Morhal describes snapping a picture of a young girl he met at a folk festival. “She had a distinct presence; her eyes constantly sought to reflect on those of the audience,” he notes in the caption. “Amani and her friends are street heroes, expelled to the margins of the common narrative, yet ever-present in every corner of Khartoum, and also in Omdurman and Bahri. My ears were drawn to their conversations and antics as they rummaged through trash in restaurants.”
The “Resistance in Memory: Visions of Sudan,” exhibition is on view through March 22, 2026. For further information or to arrange visits, please contact The Africa Center at 1280 Fifth Ave in Manhattan; phone: (212) 444-9795.