Ola Alsheikh عُلا الشيخ | |
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Born | |
Nationality | Sudan |
Known for | documentary photography |
Website | Personal website |
Ola Alsheikh, also known as Ola Abbas Alsheikh Omer (Arabic : عُلا عباس الشيخ عمر; born in Omdurman, Sudan), is a Sudanese freelance documentary photographer. She is mainly known for her pictures of everyday life and social events in Khartoum. In her work, she has placed a special focus on images of women and girls, as well as on the social and ethnic diversity in Sudan.
Alsheikh was born in Omdurman, Sudan, and grew up in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Khartoum. [1]
According to a report by BBC News, as a female photographer she has encountered mockery or even harassment, while taking photographs in the streets of Khartoum. She attributes this negative attitude to the fact that people in Khartoum are not used to seeing a woman with a camera in the streets. But despite this, she said: "I want to show real life in Sudan - we've been marginalised by the rest of the world for a long time." [2]
In October 2018, Amateur Photographer magazine published an article about Alsheikh's pictures of modern Sudan. According to this article, Alsheikh bought her first film camera in 1998, but only got seriously involved in documentary photography about twelve years later, when she switched to digital cameras. Since then, she has used her camera to document everyday life, trying to change social awareness. As an example for her documenting special events and celebrations in Sudan, the article mentions her photographs of popular Sufi rituals in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum. [1]
During the Sudanese revolution of 2018/19, BBC News published her pictures of demonstrators calling for former president Omar al-Bashir and his government to resign. [3] In 2019, the French newspaper Le Monde published her photo in a story about Eritrean refugees in Khartoum. [4]
Omdurman is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, located in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. It is on the Nile river and acts as an important road hub, with the Nile boosting transportation even further.
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Gadalla Gubara was a Sudanese cameraman, film producer, director and photographer. Over five decades, he produced more than 50 documentaries and three feature films. He was a pioneer of African cinema, having been a co-founder of both the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers FEPACI and the FESPACO Film festival. His daughter, Sara Gubara, who is a graduate of Cairo Higher Institute of Cinema, Egypt, assisted him with his later film projects, after he had lost his eyesight. She is considered to be Sudan's first female film director.
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The 1985 Sudanese coup d'état was a military coup that occurred in Sudan on 6 April 1985. The coup was staged by a group of military officers and led by the Defense Minister and Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab, against the government of President Gaafar Nimeiry.
Kandake of the Sudanese Revolution is a photograph of Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old student, standing on top of a car, dressed in white and gold, and leading a crowd of demonstrators in chant during the Sudanese anti-government protests on 8 April 2019. The photograph, taken by activist Lana Haroun using a smartphone, gained world-wide media attention and went viral in April 2019, and was described by several media organisations as iconic, representing women's participation in the revolution who were dubbed the Kandakas.
Photography in Sudan refers to both historical as well as to contemporary photographs taken in the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the former territory of present-day South Sudan, as well as what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and some of the oldest photographs from the 1860s, taken during the Turkish-Egyptian rule (Turkiyya). As in other countries, the growing importance of photography for mass media like newspapers, as well as for amateur photographers has led to a wider photographic documentation and use of photographs in Sudan during the 20th century and beyond. In the 21st century, photography in Sudan has undergone important changes, mainly due to digital photography and distribution through social media and the Internet.
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