Networks of Belonging:
A Series of Artistic Exhibitions across East Africa
The Goethe-Institut supports Sudanese artists in the region by fostering local artistic networks, professional exchange, and sustainable structures of inclusion.
The Goethe-Instituts in Kenya, Rwanda, & Ethiopia, and the Goethe Centres in Uganda and South Sudan are organizing a series of exhibitions named Networks of Belonging to support Sudanese artists exiled in the East Africa region.
Following an open call, five artists based in each of the five countries were selected: Hussein Merghani Hussein (Addis Abeba), Juma Moris (Juba), Hamza Tirab (Kampala), Mohamed Ibrahim (Kigali), and Sannad Sharif (Nairobi).
The ongoing civil war in Sudan has displaced many artists. In collaboration with Goethe-Institut Khartoum, the Networks of Belonging project responds to this by fostering local artistic networks, professional exchange, and sustainable structures of inclusion. As part of the joint venture, each of the selected artists is granted a production budget to develop new artworks and include them in the exhibition.
The Institute in Khartoum, Sudan, remains closed since 2023 until further notice. The Goethe-Institut Sudan’s cultural program activities, however, continue and are being coordinated from Cairo. This creates virtual and in-person spaces for Sudanese partners, artists, and cultural professionals where intergenerational and interactive dialogue and exchange among Sudanese communities can take place and creativity can be fostered.
The Network of Belonging exhibitions are scheduled to take place between July and November 2026. The exhibition in Nairobi by Sannad Sharif: Indigo Hypoxia will open on 2nd July 2026.
About Indigo Hypoxia
Indigo Hypoxia is conceived as an immersive solo exhibition—a space that brings together painting, textile installation, and live performance. It presents a series of presences: alienated blue figures existing within a purple atmosphere.
The exhibition explores an internal psychological state shaped by a sense of spatial and emotional void. This is not a literal room, but a mental enclosure in which the figures are suspended—caught between withdrawal and exposure, fragility and weight. They do not simply occupy the space; they embody it.
The central question of the exhibition emerges through this tension: what does it mean to feel internally blue while existing within a purple exterior?
“My work is an instinctive conversation between myself, the materials, and the moment. I do not plan what I will paint or sculpt—the brush moves first, the colors arrive on their own, and I follow. This process allows me to discover what the work wants to be, rather than forcing it into a predetermined form,” says Sannad Sharif.
© Sannad Sharif