Osama Khalid

Osama Khalid grew up in a small family in the city of Omdurman, in one of its oldest neighbourhoods. His father is a visual artist and, from a very young age, instilled in him a love for drawing. In 2015, he enrolled in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Sudan University of Science and Technology, where he graduated in 2020.

Upon graduating, he was not given the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition, as the sanitary, security and economic conditions in the country at the time did not allow for it.

Osama is interested in street life in Sudan, and his work reflects the lives of anonymous street vendors, workers and the environment of public spaces. His practice focuses on exploring the human condition and the suffering of his people, revealing the realities of economic hardship in his country and the individual lives of many homeless children.

In addition to his painting practice, he is also a filmmaker, an activity he began during his university studies. One of his most significant film projects is the production of a documentary sponsored by the Goethe-Institut of Germany, which documents the lives of women livestock herders in western Sudan, with a particular focus on how they build their mobile homes entirely from natural materials.

My artistic work focuses on humanitarian themes, portraying the lives of people who face hardship, from manual labourers to displaced individuals around the world. Through my art, I seek to give visibility to these marginalised communities and foster empathy, rather than allowing them to be forgotten.