Between the Niles is a long-term autobiographical body of work that begins with a question: where does the “I” end and the city begin, and vice versa?
Situated within the unique metropolis of Khartoum—made up of Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman—the project implicitly takes note of the city’s genesis. The landscape’s spatial form mirrors this complexity.
A recurring theme is the invasive presence of militarism, often subtle yet undeniable, that has shaped Khartoum’s urban spaces. The project approaches space as both a physical realm and a metaphysical structure. It looks at the dynamics of placement, probing the politics that govern the distribution of elements within spaces. It further explores how death and space come together, and how social, economic, political, and cultural forces shape, and are at the same time shaped by, the city—both in terms of individual destinies and collective experience.
The recent Sudanese revolution marks a critical juncture in this artistic journey. This period profoundly impacted the artist’s perspective, providing new insights and reorienting the journey and thematic depth of the work. Throughout this project, photography is a medium for visual prose and poetry, a mode of observation and notation. It participates in the never-ending process of shaping and reshaping the narratives, spaces, and identities that collectively define Khartoum.
Muhammad Salah Abdulaziz is a Sudanese photographer and curator based in Berlin.
His work explores cities, relationality, and the organisation, distribution, and experience of physical and psychic spaces, working through an intuitive, responsive process. He synthesises various components into larger bodies of work, maintaining a slow pace of examination that fosters intimate engagement with explored themes. Abdulaziz holds a B.A. in Linguistics and an M.A. in African Verbal and Visual Arts, specialising in curatorial studies and media in Africa. His academic background both informs and influences his practice.
