Ala Kheir

File:Sudanese_visual_artist_Amna_Elhassan.jpg by Kheir, 2020]]

Kheir was born in Nyala, South Darfur, and moved to the capital Khartoum with his parents as a child. During summer holidays, he spent frequent visits in Nyala and as a photographer, he later took pictures of people's lives in the Marrah Mountains region.{{Cite web |title=Ala Kheir's return to Darfur |url=https://www.plparchive.com/ala-kheirs-return-to-darfur/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=The Photography Legacy Project (PLP) |language=en-ZA}}

Kheir studied mechanical engineering in Malaysia and started as a self-taught photographer. Upon his return to Sudan, he and other photographers in Khartoum established the Sudanese Photographers Group. This group started taking photographs and teaching photography as a visual art form, including other aspiring photographers into their workshops and exhibitions.{{Cite web|last=Diallo|first=Aïcha|date=2016-10-29|title=Where the White Nile and the Blue Nile meet|url=https://contemporaryand.com/magazines/where-the-white-nile-and-the-blue-nile-meet/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-21|website=Contemporary and|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221012835/http://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/where-the-white-nile-and-the-blue-nile-meet/ |archive-date=21 February 2017 }}

Kheir has been involved in networking and training for photographers in Africa, notably with the 'Centers of Learning for Photography in Africa' in Johannesburg, South Africa.{{Cite web|title=Launch of the first phase of the 'Survey on photography training and learning initiatives on the African continent'|url=https://contemporaryand.com/magazines/launch-of-the-first-phase-of-the-survey-on-photography-training-and-learning-initiatives-on-the-african-continent/|access-date=2019-12-10|website=Contemporary and|language=en}} This network brings together African platforms active in photography education, where the members "exchange ideas and teaching methodologies and also learn as trainers."

An example of such training and networking were a series of workshops and photo exhibitions in Khartoum between 2014 and 2016, titled 'Mugran Foto Week'. The exhibition of 2016 presented the collective results of a workshop called Modern Times, conducted the year before by photographers Michelle Lukidis from South Africa and André Lützen from Germany.{{Cite web|last=Goethe-Institut Sudan|date=2017-11-24|title=Photo exhibition Modern Times – Mugran Foto Week 2016|url=https://www.goethe.de/ins/su/en/kul/sup/mug.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124135813/https://www.goethe.de/ins/su/en/kul/sup/mug.html|archive-date=24 November 2017}} In 2024, Lützen published his own photographs in the photobook Khartoum – A Tale of Three Cities.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-01-17 |title=LFI {{!}} Stories {{!}} Life in Extreme Climate Zones |url=https://lfi-online.de/en/stories/life-in-extreme-climate-zones-20466.html |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=LFI-Leica Fotografie International, Hamburg, Germany |language=en}}

For several years, Kheir served as a judge on the panel for the international Contemporary African Photography Prize (CAP) in Basel, Switzerland, "awarded annually to five photographers, whose works were created on the African continent, or which engage with the African diaspora."{{Cite web|title=CAP Prize – International Prize for Contemporary African Photography|url=https://www.capprize.com/landing/cap-prize-2021-panel-of-judges|access-date=2021-04-15|website=CAP Prize|date=30 October 2020 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2022-11-07 |title=CAP Prize – International Prize for Contemporary African Photography – Panel of Judges |url=https://www.capprize.com/landing/cap-prize-2023-panel-of-judges |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=CAP Prize |language=en-US}}

While engaged in an online conversation in October 2022 with Durham University Library Special Collections and the Photography Legacy Project (PLP), Kheir was arrested and harassed by Sudanese security police, presumably because he was suspected to be involved in citizens' protests.{{Cite web |title=Sudan Photographer and Archivist, Ala Kheir detained in Sudan |url=https://www.plparchive.com/ala-kheir/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=The Photography Legacy Project (PLP) |language=en-ZA}}

In April 2024, the news magazine The Continent reported how Kheir and his family were affected by the 2018 revolution and the 2023 war in Sudan. At the beginning of the revolution, he had moved his family from Khartoum to Cairo. Then, he went back to Sudan to photograph the anti-government movement in Khartoum and other cities. Further, he travelled to Darfur, the western region of Sudan his parents had come from, in order to research and document how people there had survived decades of conflict. After the outbreak of the war between the opposing military groups, food, water and electricity became scarce, and Kheir found himself threatened by soldiers who looked “more terrifying than the dead bodies” in the streets of the Khartoum region. Having survived a few weeks at his parents' place in Omdurman, he travelled on to Wad Madani, the second largest city in the country. Many other people had sought refuge in that city, and Kheir found himself a war photographer. Finally, he had to flee from Sudan to the United Arab Emirates, only able to communicate through the internet with his parents who stayed behind in Sudan, or with his wife and children in Egypt, that had effectively closed its borders to more Sudanese refugees.{{Cite web |last=Continent |first=The |date=2024-04-20 |title=Sudan: A fractured life in limbo |url=https://continent.substack.com/p/sudan-a-fractured-life-in-limbo |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=The Continent}}

In the magazine article "Street Photography: A Glimpse into Khartoum Architecture and Urban Design", Kheir reflected on the nature of street photography as he knew it before the war:{{Cite web |last=Gaafar |first=Zainab |date=Aug 21, 2017 |title=Street photography: a glimpse into Khartoum architecture and urban design |url=https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/cvfvz/street_photography_a_glimpse_into_khartoum_architecture_and_urban_design.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821100417/http://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/cvfvz/street_photography_a_glimpse_into_khartoum_architecture_and_urban_design.html |archive-date=21 August 2017 |access-date=2021-04-15 |website=World Architecture Community |language=en}}

{{Blockquote|text=As a photographer, street photography has its unique joy, and the streets are the best place to link the human to the surrounding space resulting in an environmental portrait that tells the complete story. It is definitely a strong means to educate the public about our immediate environment.|author=Ala Kheir, Sudanese photographer}}

Kheir's photographs have been published by The Guardian, Brownbook magazine in Dubai, and the World Architecture Community.{{Cite web |date=2016-07-07 |title=Sudanese beauty queen demands end to Nuba mountain bombing |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/07/sudanese-beauty-queen-natalina-yaqoub-demands-end-nuba-mountain-bombing |access-date=2021-04-15 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite news |last1=Kheir |first1=Ala |last2=Burns |first2=John |last3=Algrefwi |first3=Ibrahim |date=2016-02-05 |title=The psychedelic world of Sudan's Sufis – in pictures |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/feb/05/the-psychedelic-world-of-sudans-sufis-in-pictures |access-date=2021-04-15 |issn=0261-3077}} In 2020, his work was featured among 17 contemporary African photographers in the book The Journey. New Positions in African Photography.{{Cite web|title=The Journey|url=https://www.kerberverlag.com/en/1799/the-journey|access-date=2021-10-12|website=KERBER VERLAG|language=en-GB}} From 2008 to 2018, these African photographers had been invited by local German cultural centres of the Goethe-Institut to attend masterclasses, curated by Simon Njami and established African photographers, such as Akinbode Akinbiyi.{{Cite web|last=Iduma|first=Emmanuel|date=2021-06-24|title=Post-Continental: Contemporary African Photography|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/contemporary-african-photography-1234596881/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-12|website=www.artnews.com|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624192515/https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/contemporary-african-photography-1234596881/ |archive-date=24 June 2021 }} Along with other African photographers who were part of these masterclasses, a portrait of Kheir's work was published in the book The Journey - New positions in African photography.Njami Simon, Sean O'Toole, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Lucienne Bestall, Nicola Brandt, Frédérique Chapuis, John Fleetwood et al. (2019) The Journey. New Positions in African Photography. Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag. ISBN 978-3-73560-682-2, p. 200-209

In the French book on 52 contemporary African artists Oh! AfricArt, Kheir and his photographs were featured as the only artist from Sudan.{{Cite book|last=Tchoungui|first=Elizabeth|title=Oh! AfricArt|publisher=Hachette Livre – Editions du Chêne|year=2021|isbn=9782812321016|location=Vanves|pages=188–191|language=fr}} For their 2022 contest, World Press Photo nominated Kheir as jury member from Africa.{{Cite web|title=2022 World Press Photo Contest jury|url=https://www.worldpressphoto.org/contest/2022/jury|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-09|website=www.worldpressphoto.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222121208/https://www.worldpressphoto.org/contest/2022/jury |archive-date=22 December 2021 }}

During the 2023 Sudan conflict, The Guardian published a feature article in their series "My best Shot" on one of Kheir's pictures of Khartoum and his personal approach to photography.{{Cite news |last=Siddons |first=Edward |last2= |first2= |date=2023-08-02 |title=A tea shop in Khartoum before the bombs: Ala Kheir's best photograph |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/aug/02/taking-tea-in-khartoum-ala-kheir-my-best-shot |access-date=2023-08-07 |issn=0261-3077}} In the 2023 group exhibition Reframing Neglect in New York, Kheir was represented with pictures of people living on the outskirts of Khartoum and suffering from "neglected tropical diseases," which include leprosy, sleeping sickness and river blindness.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-29 |title=Sudanese photographer Ala Kheir looks to preserve memories of his homeland at a group show in New York |url=https://arab.news/2xmxw |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=Arab News |language=en}}

In 2024, Kheir's photograph titled "In Their Place", composed of layers of places and displaced people in war-affected Khartoum, was featured at the Africa Foto Fair{{Cite web |title=AFF Exhibition Particpants [sic] – Africa Foto Fair |url=https://africafotofair.com/aff-exhibition-particpants/ |access-date=2024-12-02 |language=en}} and The Guardian's Art and Design gallery. {{Cite news |date=2024-11-21 |title=Going for gold: the best of Africa Foto Fair – in pictures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/nov/21/going-for-gold-the-best-of-africa-foto-fair-in-pictures?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other |access-date=2024-12-02 |work=the Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

• Reframing Neglect, Milan, New York and Abu Dhabi, Italy, USA and United Arab Emirates 2022/2023{{Cite web |date=2022-12-08 |title=Reframing Neglect Events Page |url=https://end.org/reframing-neglect/events/ |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=The END Fund |language=en-US}}
• Revisiting Khartoum, African Capitals, France 2017
• Revisiting Khartoum, Dakar Biennale, Senegal 2016
• Khartoum 2 Addis, Venice Biennale, Italy 2015
• Africa, Big change, Big chance, Milan, Italy 2014
• Invisible Borders, group exhibition, Addis Photo Festival, Ethiopia 2012
• Khartoum (solo exhibition), Addis Photo Festival 2012
• The Un-governables, group exhibition in New York 2012
• Feel the color, Khartoum, 2009 (co-exhibition with Dia Khalil)
• 50+1, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 2007{{Cite web |title=African Photography Network – Ala Kheir |url=https://www.africanphotographynetwork.org/ |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=African Photography Network |language=en-US}}

• Our Continent, Our Future photo competition, 2nd prize, 2013
• Connect for Climate photo competition, 2nd prize, 2012
• UN education photograph, 2010

• Photography in Sudan

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor1-last=Njami |editor1-first=Simon |editor2-last=O'Toole |editor2-first=Sean |title=The journey: new positions in African photography |publisher=Kerber Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-7356-0682-2 |editor-link=Simon Njami |publication-place=Bielefeld |oclc=1157344323}}

• [https://alakheir.com/ Webpage of Ala Kheir]
• [https://pentaxphotogallery.com/alakheir Ala Kheir] at pentaxphotogallery.com
• [http://www.clpa.photography/ Centers of Learning for Photography in Africa]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apKM8s0Y1vM Mugran Foto Encounter 2015] in Khartoum, documentary video on YouTube
• [https://www.africanphotographynetwork.org/ala-kheir/ Ala Kheir's photographs] on African Photography Network
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr_E8zc8p8U Ala Kheir speaks about the history of photography in Sudan and his own photography], video on YouTube
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNrsgXT_OVw Ala Kheir on how the war in Sudan affected himself and other Sudanese], video on YouTube produced by UNHCR

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kheir, Ala}}

Category:1985 births

Category:Sudanese photographers

Category:Sudanese artists

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Sudanese artists

Category:People from Darfur