The Order of the French Republic was rejected ... Al Jazeera Net talks to Kamala Ibrahim, pioneer of Sudanese plastic art

"It is an art to respect others."

This is what Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq, one of the pioneers of the Sudanese art of formation, sees, who made crystal an idea, and revealing veils a practice.

Kamala, born in "Omdurman" in 1939, is considered a plastic artist in Sudan, and a pioneer, not only in her native country, but also on the Arab and African levels.

Kamala graduated from the College of Fine Arts in 1963, and traveled to London for higher studies, to study coloring, illustration, and lithography at the Royal College of Art, and then returned to the College of Fine Arts and in 1978 took over the chair of its painting department.

Kamala has a multi-station procession full of artistic accomplishments, and perhaps the founding of a group with artistic concepts (the Cristals) in 1974 is one of the most prominent.

The group believes - in its founding statement - that “the essence of the universe is like a crystal cube that is completely transparent and eternally transformed, which changes according to the position of the viewer, and the person is held captive within this transparent crystal cube,” and the group seeks to uncover the blocking and transparency.

The Sudanese artist presented a number of plastic achievements, awards and external participations, the most important of which is obtaining the Prince "Claus" award in the Netherlands in 2019, in addition to a station that the artist chose not to pass through, as she was supposed to receive the Medal of Arts from the Republic of France this month after she resides. An exhibition at the French Cultural Center in Khartoum, but Kamala refused the medal because of what French President Emmanuel Macron had insulted against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and she abandoned displaying her paintings in the center.

With crystal transparency, she completely answered Al-Jazeera Net's questions:

Tell us about your

beginnings

real beginning was with my entrance into the College of Fine Arts, although I used to paint before it in high school.

At that time, arts were studied from the initial stage.

In the first year at the College of Art, we used to study the programs of all departments, then in the second year the specialization began and there was a first and second major, the first was painting and the second was sculpture.

After graduation, she worked as a teaching assistant in the painting department for a year, after which she was sent to the Royal College in London to specialize in the mural coloring department, and she stayed there for two years.

After that, I went back to college for a year and then returned to the Royal College, but this time to the Graphic Department, during which I studied for a year, “Designing books and magazines, printing and lithography” (lithography).

After that, I returned to the College of Fine Arts in the painting department, then was assigned to the National Museum, and he had begun to make a mural in the entrance covering all historical eras.

Khartoum School .. The Crystal School, and many names have been given to Sudanese plastic art ..

“Khartoum School” is a name given by Professor Dennis Williams, and he was a professor in the Department of History and I was then a second year student in the college, and he called it Khartoum School meaning all artists working in the field of arts .

The Crystal School .. What about the conditions of upbringing and the extension of the experience?

I held an exhibition at the National Museum in 1974, and among the paintings is a large 3-and-a-half-meter long painting, containing 15 crystal balls with plants and faces.

This painting was exhibited in 1977 in Washington at the Museum of Contemporary African Art.

At that time, two of the students were Muhammad Hamid Shaddad and Nayla al-Tayyib, and their production was glass works, after which Muhammad Shaddad wrote the crystal statement and explained the idea.

Then the "Al-Wahid" school appeared, and the professors: Ibrahim Al-Awam, may God have mercy on him, Muhammad Hussein, and Otaibi participated in drafting the school's statement, and I entrusted his writing to Professor Ahmed Abdel-Al, may God have mercy on him.

I think that these are the schools that appeared after the Khartoum School, and all of them are not schools in the known sense but rather artistic trends, and these artistic trends did not last for long except for the Khartoum School.

I do not like the word "school" but "direction" for plastic work. The school limits the artwork, and I think it was formulated to facilitate the work of critics.

There is no extension of any trend or school as it is called, not only in Sudan, but in all countries since the beginning of the modern artistic trends that appeared after the invention of the camera, including surrealism, cubism and a number of directions, and none of them continued, so they appeared and ended.

What do you think of the current plastic scene?

The scene now is very different from the past.

In the past, there was a Union of Artists and it was related to the Writers Union, and exhibitions were held twice a year, winter and summer, and all artists participated in them, including individual exhibitions, and seminars, lectures and poetry nights were held.

A long time ago, that movement diminished and was replaced by some solo exhibitions, because there is no collective union of all artists.

An approach to the immediate ... Freedom from the requirements of creative work .. Do you see perfection of creativity as a ceiling?

Freedom in creative work has no ceiling.

You refused a medal from France and canceled an exhibition that was to be held in the Cultural Center in Khartoum.

When were you notified?

I was informed of the medal by the former director of the French Cultural Center in Khartoum, who told me that I would be awarded the Order of Literature and Arts, and that was mid-2018 and then the director changed, and the current director of the center told me that the first of January 2019 has been set as the date for the exhibition.

I exhibit in the center annually unless it conflicts with an external exhibition, and the medal is linked to the establishment of the exhibition, as it is supposed to be presented to me immediately after the opening, and the revolution at that time had started in Sudan, and it was not possible to hold an exhibition at that time, and the exhibition was supposed to be after that In early 2020, he was late again and this time set for the first of November.

A painting by Kamala Ibrahim, who challenged traditional practices in the Sudanese art scene (communication sites)

Some differed in the interpretation of your position .. on the a priori, but necessary, question, what prompted you to this position?

The difference in the interpretation of any expected position, and what made me stand my position. This is the opinion of the President of the Republic of France in the drawings and satire, and his description of them with freedom of opinion, and I see that there is no absolute freedom.

I called the director of the center and told him that I refused the medal, and I asked him to inform the lady, the ambassador, of my apology for receiving it, as I hope for a response.

He told me that these drawings are free of opinion, and that they criticize their Christianity and their messenger, as well as Judaism, so I told him that in my opinion they (meaning the drawings) are unacceptable because they are prophets and in our religion we believe in all the messengers and prophets.

The response came the next day, as I received a call from the director stating that the ambassador informed him of withdrawing the medal, and she asked about the exhibition and told him that the exhibition was mainly for receiving the medal, and therefore it should not happen, and she asked him to inform her of my respect and appreciation for her, everyone and the Cultural Center.

Don't you see, Kamal, that what you have done is against the spirit of art?

What you took from a decision against the spirit of art?

How do?

Does art call for infringement on the sanctities of others?

I think it is an art to respect others and their feelings.

This is the spirit of art.

What is your comment on the news of a Mauritanian plastic artist canceling his relationship with a French association after he drew a satirical caricature for the French President?

This is a response to President Macron, and a question that arises strongly: Where is the freedom of opinion?

With the president being a normal human being without holiness, he can paint and make fun of him, and satirical drawings are freedom of opinion, but the prophets and messengers have holiness.

All this makes us ask why we innovate if creativity spurs all of that?

We innovate because creativity is a part of us that we cannot fail, but if the question is about the (French) drawing we are dealing with, then this is not creativity.

In my opinion, this is a bad attempt at fame. Art is morals, beauty and creativity, as I said, and this is what the arts call for and try to formulate.