What Ahmed Abushariaa constantly gives you over time is evolution of style, media and inspiration. Whereas his last exhibition at the Tribal Gallery in Nairobi last year was inspired by the rolling landscapes of the Rift Valley and the Blue Nile in Sudan, his just concluded show in the same venue took a more mordant tone, borrowing a ledger from the current war-torn Sudan. One would well consider it as a long note from a dirge.
His latest exhibition was untitled and bore paintings spanning back to 2016, and about 10 pieces recently drawn.
“This time I was doing something about the survivors from Sudan. Most have shared a lot of stories about how they fled the war, going through villages, cities, towns and their encounters during their journey. I am trying to portray this part of it mainly through paintings on canvas,” he says.
Abushariaa is known more for working with inks and watercolours on paper. His latest foray might however seem as an oddity for people accustomed to his work. But for Abushariaa, it is part of the interesting scope in which he perceives art from.
Whereas his last exhibition was vividly colorful, with cerulean blues and verdant greens paying homage to the Nile and the landscapes from Kampala to Nairobi, his latest settled on a more balanced tone dictated by the topic.
“Untitled 2,” mixed media on canvas by Ahmed Abushariaa, displayed at Tribal Gallery, Nairobi, on November 2, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
“I like to do painting first off as fun and not as a job, which is why when I work with paper for some time, I just want to take a break, to try something else. I am always searching; you can also notice that my style changes often. I like to challenge myself so that I can also enjoy the process, I do not like repeating the same thing all over, it becomes boring, I want it to also become fun for me because as I said, I am always on a quest.”
In his exhibition, Abushariaa settles on more direct figures. His portraits take a close up view in what he terms as an attempt to reflect what he sees and hears while meditating on it. His voice in his work is also influenced by the type of media he is working on.
“The medium can change the scene. When working with water colour, it is different from say, working with oil or acrylic,” he says.
How different? “With watercolour, it is transparent, an artist always has to check on the transparency of the watercolours, but for acrylic, it is opaque. It is stuffy yes, but it gives you more flexibility. With acrylic, one may keep adding layers of colour and sometimes you may end up covering a subject previously painted, with watercolours, you may add as many layers as you want but you will still see the first layer that you started with,” he says.
“Dreaming freedom,” acrylic on canvas by Ahmed Abushariaa, displayed at Tribal Gallery, Nairobi, on November 2, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
He adds.“It is easier to work with acrylic than with water colour because with acrylic, one needs to have the predominant idea first and then you continue building on it, but with acrylic, you may start with an idea, prime it and begin on an entirely different concept, I take advantage of this to put more effort in acrylic painting to make it more colourful, vivid and activity littered.”
His later paintings in the exhibition bore the tagline of war, with names like “Survivor and Migration”. In his own way, Abushariaa, honours his people affected by the vagaries of war in the only way he can, by listening to their stories and finding a muse in the morbidity of the knell of death and bloodshed.
“The stories of survivors of war are touching. I tried to reflect what I heard in my works because my family is also affected by the war. My brother has had to move to Saudi Arabia, my sisters relocated to Italy and Saudi Arabia, all because of the war. My family is scattered,” he says.
On whether the war can be brought to an end, Abushariaa takes apolitical view.
“I am not very good in politics, but I believe that wars are ended through peaceful talks not through wars because in wars, the victims are always innocent civilians. I am sure sooner or later the war will have to come to an end. The earliest the better before everything gets destroyed.”
He continues, “The war has affected many artists. Consciously or unconsciously artists from the Sudan region express their feelings about the war through their work. We all hope for normalcy.”
“The wise man,” acrylic on canvas by Ahmed Abushariaa, displayed at Tribal Gallery, Nairobi, on November 2, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
In his artworks, Abushariaa work carries the tears and sighs of tired souls, buried relatives, victoms of rape, plunder and violence without boundaries. The body or work in the exhibition carried the cry of a society in need of redemption, innocent bystanders paying the hefty price of divisive politics.
Abushariaa’s exhibition was a silent cry for politicians to find a way of solving differences. A country in peace bears well for artists as opposed to war.
The tone of his work reflected the languid state of his inspiration. The colours took a backseat, the figures were drawn more outwards to the canvas, their expressions open for all to see.
