Tariq Nasre · Sudan
Tariq Nasre
Tariq Nasre draws dense, flowing worlds of figures, birds, fish and snakes in fine black ink, and sometimes sets them alight with colour. Born in Dongola, in Sudan’s Northern State, in 1964, he trained in colour and painting in Khartoum and spent decades as a cartoonist and illustrator for Sudanese newspapers, magazines and children’s books before his canvases took centre stage.
In his own words
“I find myself in constant dialogue with the white of the paper and the black of the ink pen.”
Tariq Nasre
Colour, he says, comes as a kind of reconciliation: “colour snatches me from the clutches of black and white.”
The story
Tariq Nasr Osman Fadl began drawing caricatures for Sudanese newspapers in 1984, and his first book came out in 1988. A year later he graduated in colour from the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the Khartoum Institute of Technology. He went on to design illustrations for the Sudan Printing and Publishing House, publisher of Sudanow.
For many years he drew for Sudanese children’s magazines, among them the much-loved Al-Subyan, and illustrated children’s books. In 1991 his illustration won an encouragement prize at the Noma Concours for children’s picture book illustration in Japan.
He has held six solo exhibitions and a two-person show in Sudan, taken part in many group exhibitions in Sudan and abroad, and in many design workshops in Sudan.
His work as an illustrator and cartoonist is what drew him to black and white, the medium in which he has left his own unmistakable mark. He is one of a group of Sudanese artists who have pushed black-and-white drawing forward as an art of its own.
The work
His surfaces are built from wood grain, feathers, fish and snake scales and layered leaves. Shoals of fish drift across the picture or lie on plates; birds perch on shoulders; heads are crowned with turbans or with the bull’s horns honoured by the Nuba and Dinka peoples.
Motifs from all over Sudan meet in one picture: the carved hulaal comb of the Hadendoa men of the east, the fine plaits of northern women, the angareeb rope bed, the camel litter of nomadic families, and creatures from Nile stories and the Dinka tradition, where the first woman, Abuk, is often shown as a snake. The mood is tender, often humorous, and open to more than one reading.
Alongside the ink drawings he paints delicate colour works of rural and family life in Sudan, full of affection.
From paper to silk
These pieces bring Tariq’s drawings to silk, each one under Tariq’s name, for The Kanso Collective. The silk keeps every line of the pen, and the white of the paper stays as the ground.
Highlights
- Encouragement prize, Noma Concours for children’s picture book illustration, Japan, 1991
- BA in colour, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Khartoum Institute of Technology, 1989
- Newspaper cartoonist since 1984; first book published 1988
- Illustrator for Sudanese children’s books and the children’s magazine Al-Subyan
- Six solo exhibitions and a two-person show in Sudan; group shows in Sudan and abroad
- “Disturbance in the Nile”, Casa Árabe, Madrid, 2024
- Mojo Gallery, Khartoum, 2019
Exhibitions and awards
| 2024 | Disturbance in the Nile, Casa Árabe, Madrid | Group show |
| 2019 | Mojo Gallery, Khartoum | Exhibition |
| 1991 | Noma Concours for children’s picture book illustration, Japan | Encouragement prize |
“Tariq Nasre’s work is imbued with magical, ancestral voices, hints of folklore, mythology and sacred belief… It is this creative synthesis of Sudanese narratives and traditions that restores hope in times of division and tragic misunderstanding.”
Women’s Literacy in Sudan, 2024
Questions
Who is Tariq Nasre?
A Sudanese artist, born in Dongola in 1964. He trained in colour at the College of Fine and Applied Arts in Khartoum, drew cartoons for Sudanese newspapers from 1984 and illustrated children’s books and magazines for many years. His fine ink drawings are full of figures, birds, fish and snakes from Sudanese stories.