Salih Basheer’s Return to Sudan
Source: magnumphotos.com
In April 2023, Salih Basheer returned to Khartoum, Sudan, to visit his family during the final weeks of Ramadan. He reflects in his film The Wind on My Back, released a year later:
"I get goosebumps when I recall everything I went through during my last visit to Khartoum. The city was completely calm, and the sound of the Maghrib call to prayer during Ramadan created moments of sanctity I only feel during this month. The breeze in the air, the chirping of birds, and the call to prayer were the only sounds piercing the silence. These were the last beautiful moments I experienced in Khartoum — before the disaster."
In the early hours of April 15, while he was in the city, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched an attack on Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) bases across the country, including Khartoum and its airport. The city and nation descended into chaos, with Sudanese civilians, including Basheer and his family, caught in the crossfire. This date marked the beginning of a deadly ongoing war that has displaced at least 14 million people and killed tens of thousands, with the actual death toll likely much higher, considering deaths caused by disease, malnutrition, and lack of healthcare.
Born in 1995 in Omdurman, Basheer grew up amid the turmoil of the second Sudanese Civil War, a 22-year conflict between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Basheer explains:
"Sudan has never experienced long-term stability in its modern history. Since gaining independence from colonial rule, the country has been plagued by prolonged civil conflicts and politically divided elites, each driven by their own interests and agendas. This division has, in turn, fractured the Sudanese people."
The attack on April 15 forced Basheer to embark on a perilous journey back to his base in Aarhus, Denmark — an experience he describes as completely overwhelming. He says:
"The journey was very sudden. It was difficult to find a way out of Khartoum, but I had to."
Basheer began his career as a self-taught photographer before moving to Denmark to study photojournalism. Once back in Denmark, he found himself surrounded by an eerie quiet, a stark contrast to the chaos he had just witnessed in Khartoum. He recalls:
"When I was in Sudan, I was in the middle of everything and didn’t have a moment to think about what was happening. But when I got back, things were quiet and slow, giving me the space to reflect. There was so much to process, and I started having vivid dreams."
Basheer built a photographic archive exploring themes of home, displacement, belonging, and trauma. His first long-term project, The Homeseekers, began during his university studies in Cairo in 2013, where he struggled with feelings of alienation and longing. The project followed the journeys of two men who fled political persecution in Sudan, seeking a new beginning in unfamiliar surroundings.
His next project, 22 Days In Between, was more introspective, delving into deeply personal themes of loss, grief, and identity. Combining photographs, writings, drawings, and family photographs, the project became Basheer’s way of coming to terms with the loss of his parents, who passed away when he was just three years old.
In 2021, this project earned the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund student grant, and in 2023, it became the first photobook by a Sudanese photographer, winning the Les Rencontres d’Arles Photo-Text Book Award that same year.
His series Blue; Children of January was his first to directly address Sudan’s political climate, focusing on the Sudanese revolution of 2018–2019. It documented protests, daily life in Khartoum, and pivotal moments in Sudan’s modern political history.
In November, Basheer announced a new project titled The Return. This series combines the themes of displacement explored in The Homeseekers, the personal healing process of 22 Days In Between, and the political focus of Blue; Children of January. It highlights the humanitarian impact of the ongoing war in Sudan, weaving Basheer’s personal story with those of others displaced since April 2023.
In September, Basheer began this journey in Nairobi, meeting people who shared their stories of displacement. In an Instagram post, he shed light on the tragedies in regions like Al Jazirah State and Darfur. The project aims to go beyond headlines, focusing on survivors rebuilding their lives and identities amid a war they did not choose.
