Not by Images Alone…

“Through these projects in progress, I try to converse as calmly as possible with the idea of incompleteness and fragmentation, inspiring to transform “the desires that remain desires “^[1] into strength.

This is not a mourning but an attempt to take an inner journey in reverse from visual images to rediscover words,  to untangle language from the terrifying machine of erasure and re-inscribe, with clear writing, what has become illegible in the flames.

As I contemplate the absent faces fading away in this strenuous present, I try to cling on tightly to my early age fascination of the immeasurable human capacity to tell and translate pains and hopes.

Amongst these faces is the poet René Char, whom I discovered by chance in another language. His poetry, rooted in his land, paradoxically became my closest companion at every stage where a familiar place was torn from us. The inner musicality of his poetry has always generously offered me a sense of belonging and action, necessary to reinvent continuity to our narratives, hopes, and concerns.”

–  Suhaib Gasmelbari

Rayan Abbas (Sudan) is a cultural manager, translator and visual artist.
Suhaib Gasmelbari (Sudan) is a filmmaker, writer and photographer.
They are currently in residence with the support of the French Ministry of Culture.

^[1] “The poem is the realized love of desire remaining desire”. René Char, Fureur et mystère, 1948