Sand in My Eyes , Sudanese Moments: Book Review
Agencies – Sudan Events
In an unparalleled journey of several years through Sudan, Enikö Nagy collected everyday moments – in photography and spoken word – from over 45 tribes and ethnic groups across 30,000 km in some of the hardest-to-access regions of the world. The epic journey offers an intimate look into a people and the human experience.
SAND IN MY EYES, Sudanese Moments was published in 2014, introducing the diverse cultures of Sudan and their philosophy of life to the wider world. In recognition of the importance of this work in safeguarding intangible world heritage, UNESCO – in a rare gesture – penned the foreword to the opulent English-Arabic bilingual poetic picture book.
A travelling exhibition created from the hundreds of photographs and traditional narratives in the book is presently on tour through Europe, America and Sudan. The project is a counterpoise to divisiveness and the single story of yet another poor and conflict-ridden African country.
The exhibition – a composition of photography and spoken word, arranged to mirror a day in Sudan across its different lifestyles – is a visual narrative of Sudan’s rich and varied cultural patterns, traditions, landscapes, and daily rituals. The images capture the mood of everyday moments and rare ceremonies, while poetry, folk tales, proverbs, legends, myths and anecdotes draw you into the social fabric.
Sudanese moments tell of the diversity of Sudanese identity, values and cultural wisdom, showing how people in Sudan think, feel and search for their future, drawing a timeless connection to the listener all over the world and reclaiming the narrative of a place.
“My intention to investigate the poetic rhythm of everyday life in an environment people relate to crisis was so unusual to both locals and foreigners that I was suspected of having either fallen in love with a Sudanese local or to be a spy.
