Art scene ravaged by war

Rahiem, the co-founder of the Downtown Gallery in Khartoum.

ON the morning Sudan’s rival military forces began fighting, Yasir Algrai was in his studio in the centre of the country’s capital, prepping for another day of work surrounded by paint colours and canvases.That was April 15 – and in the three days that followed, Yasir remained trapped in his studio, starving and dehydrated as battles raged outside his door on the streets of Khartoum.

For hours every day, he cowered in terror as bullets pierced the windows of the building and the walls shook from errant shelling. When a small period of quiet to escape materialised, Yasir was eager to seize it – albeit with a heavy heart.