Exploration – Deeperlook

Preamble

Cavewoman was concluded recently (check previous post) and in this post, I will be sharing highlights from the art galleries I visited while making the documentary.

Location

Khartoum, Sudan.

Specifically Khartoum 2

I will share the specific location for each of the galleries in case you wish to visit.

Mojo Gallery

This gallery is small in size but filled with multiple artworks on different surfaces. They range from descriptive art to abstracts.

I was impressed with their warmness and the accessibility to the artworks.

There are art prints to purchase and sculpted works too.

I met an artist who came to display her artwork. She was super friendly and gave her contribution on how I could get supplies.

The curators in the gallery were encouraging too.

They have a percentage they collect for artworks they display and the possibility of having your artwork displayed depends on quality of media and surface and thier interest in the supposed artwork.

Location

Mojo Gallery
Khartoum, Sudan
+249 91 290 5846

https://maps.google.com/?cid=17880319948968549090&hl=en&gl=gb

Shams Gallery

I laughed more in this place. They were super warm. I met one of the main painters (I forgot his name, my bad 😳). He told me that he travelled to Lagos, Nigeria for an art exhibition. He along with two others were the only ones selected for the program. He said he loves Lagos and would love to visit again. I met him while he was painting and asked few questions which were answered.

With him was another who was probably just a guide in the gallery.

I also met the one who frames the pictures and his English was very good and it was easy communicating with him.

I showed them my artwork (Affection) and they commended and encouraged me to keep practicing. I also got directions to the art store where I could get better and cheaper supplies.

Location

Shams Gallery
67th Ave E, Khartoum, Sudan
+249 91 290 2911

https://goo.gl/maps/eiydpjqrUDyspHyc8

End note

There should be more galleries but these are the ones I visited in the process of creating the last series.

I felt inspired and encouraged after checking these places and even though I felt sad for finding them in the last period of my stay in this location, I am grateful to have still viewed them.

You can visit my art gallery via the ART page 😊.

You are welcomed to view anytime.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (KJV)

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Until next post, still

#fromamedicalstudentfaraway

Preamble

This topic compliments the previous post.

That is Cavewoman 2

Favourite question

I cannot count the number of times I have been asked:

“Why did you come to Sudan?”

Those who have asked cannot seem to understand why a person like me would come to a place like this.

My intial response used to be “Because my father (earthly) sent me here”.

However, as I have spent years here with all the things that have unravelled in my life, my response has changed.

A person like me

I am a Christian, and an Igbo, a combination that is not expected to be found in a muslim dominated country.

I wondered why people found it strange that a person like me would be in this country.

Why?

Why did my religion and culture mean so much?

That is a rhetorical question.

My response has always been “Because I am a human being and I should be able to live anywhere”

I know that response is not very valid even though it should be.

With the huge prejudice against Sudan, living here as a Christian foreigner has not felt too alien to me, maybe because I merged with the society easily and did not find it hard appearing like one of them.

In the form of wearing scarves and covering my body appropriately.

Why?

This is a story that would probably be shared appropriately in a proper context but for the sake of this post, I will share a little.

Before coming to this land, I made a prayer to God and I did not know He would answer me exactly. When the answer came, I accepted it with my whole heart.

I knew it was His answer but I was not completely prepared for the journey.

God prepared me along the line.

Process

Through out the years I have lived in this land, a lot has been shed from my life, a lot has been planted and more has grown. I have been watered and fed and had experiences that are perculiar.

My faith has grown and I have understood purpose more.

I have had loss, shed tears, experienced confusion, pain and disappointments.

However, these experiences have been a fertile ground for God.

And He is still working

Another thing is, because I was not prepared, I who thought I had accepetd God’s will fully had limited the place He put me in.

I limited the land and in my mind categorized it as a dry land without an oasis. I had allowed that limitation affect growth I would have experienced earlier.

It took me almost all of the years I have spent here to realise my errors.

It reminds me of this verse

Psalms 63:1
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;(KJV)

I had focused on the dryness I had seen rather than on God who was able to show me where water was.

As Hagar was shown (Genesis 21:15-19)

Psalms 107:35He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
(KJV)

God called Abram and renamed him Abraham. Abraham was called to move into the land of the unknown, a land that was filled with sand; a desert. In faith Abraham moved and God blessed the land which was a desert and turned it to a fruitful land.

When God says move, we move and it is Him that would bless our obedience.
O. R. A

Why did you come here?

Another group of people now ask me this question.

The people of the land.

It is now their favourite question.

Why did you come to our country?

Why they ask?

…………..

My answer now is “Because God wanted me here”

And yes, that is that is why.

God wanted me here at this time, at this moment regardless of everything that has happened, I am here for a purpose.

As God leads

As God leads, we follow and as we follow, we trust His guidance.

We need not limit ourselves nor our environment because it is The LORD that leads.

Deuteronomy 31:8 And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. (KJV)

I am grateful that regardless of my omissions, God has patiently given me opportunities to rethink of my decisions and mindset, and for future purposes in another land where He leads me, I should do better.

As Cavewoman continues, it is important to note that I am still shelling and this series is a glimpse of the things that are transforming in my life.