Mahmoud Mohammed Farah

Mahmoud Mohamed Farah is a Sudanese/Canadian painter and Educator.
Farah studied under Ibrahim El Salahi as an undergraduate at the College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum, Sudan between 1964-1968, and worked at the same college as a Teaching Assistant, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer between 1968-1981. Farah received his Masters degree from the College of Art in Dusseldorf in Germany in 1981, and subsequently worked at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and at The Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Farah sees his paintings as diaries of his life journey. Elusive and mysterious images wait to be revealed as he uses a brush and a few colours, and exposes the mysterious images layer by layer. Farah is influenced by a variety music from classical and jazz to ethnic African and indigenous Sudanese music, and his recent work has been influenced by the devastating war in Sudan, which has formed the basis of his current theme Displacement Act of war, Art of war.

Farah has exhibited his work widely in Sudan, Germany, USA, Canada, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. He was one of the prize winners for the Al Burda Competition in 2016 and the gold medal winner of the Saudia Airlines Art Competition, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1994.

This painting draws its inspiration from Ghabat Al-Sunut (Acacia Forest) in Khartoum, which has suffered extensive destruction during the ongoing war in Sudan. Known as the ‘Lungs of Khartoum,’ the forest forms a vital green belt that filters urban pollution, moderates local temperatures, and helps protect the city’s edge from seasonal Nile floods. Three years of war have reduced this historic landscape, which is home to rare acacia species, centuries-old trees, and nearly 800 species of songbirds and other birds native to the region, to a barren field of stumps.

Rebirth is a beacon of hope for the forest’s restoration and Sudan emerging anew from the rubble of war.