London - A world city in 20 objects: No. 11 Tree by Ibrahim Mohammed El Salahi, 2001

Our weekly series examines an artefact from the British Museum with origins in one of the capital’s many diverse cultures
6 December 2012

The Khartoum School, under the leadership of Ibrahim El Salahi, began to be recognised in the Sixties as an emergent modernist movement producing a distinctive means of expression known as Sudanawiyya — a synthesis of Western styles of art with other traditions, reflecting the remarkable ethnic, religious and cultural diversity of Sudan. Salahi explains part of the rationale behind the movement:

“Originality, human originality, does not mean creating something out of nothing as such a claim is well beyond the capability of mankind. Originality, in my opinion, means to be able to create the new out of what is already there in existence. One simply makes a new addition, a sort of a new idea, a fresh leaf atop that same old tree of creation”.

Among the traditions that inspire and inform Salahi’s work is that of the patched tunic, jibba, which was the distinctive uniform of the followers of Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi or “rightly guided one”, who in 1884 led a jihad or Holy War to establish the Mahdist State in Sudan. The jibba was inspired by the ragged muraqqa’a, which for centuries had been the dress of the Sufi religious orders, signifying contempt for worldly goods.

The artist Ibrahim El Salahi, himself a member of a Sufi brotherhood, sees the jibba as a metaphor for the remarkably diverse nature of Sudanese society, the patches symbolising different cultures and beliefs in various parts of the country. In his Tree series, Salahi makes reference to the form of the jibba as well as to the human form, suggesting a Tree of Life in Sudan. Created in 2001 using coloured inks on paper, Tree was produced in the artist’s UK studio. Although the Mahdist State ceased to exist following the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, Mahdism, through the mouthpiece of the Umma party, remains a vital political force in Sudan today.

Christopher Spring, British Museum Curator, African Collections

On display in the Sainsbury African Galleries, room 25, British Museum, WC1 (020 7323 8299, britishmuseum.org). Open Sat-Thurs, 10am-5.30pm; Fri 10am-8.30pm, admission free.

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