Issam Hafiez is a Sudanese painter, photographer, and graphic designer whose practice centers on painting as a primary means of exploring memory, identity, and lived experience. His work is distinguished by expressive mark-making and a material-driven approach that pushes the boundaries of paint, creating surfaces charged with urgency, emotion, and historical resonance. Through layered textures and gestural forms, Hafiez transforms everyday life into powerful visual narratives that reflect Sudan’s social and cultural realities.
Hafiez graduated in 1982 with a B.A. in Graphic Design from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Khartoum Polytechnic. While trained within a formal, technique-based tradition, his practice has evolved into a highly individual language that emphasizes experimentation, abstraction, and the physicality of paint. Alongside his painting, his background in photography and design continues to inform his visual sensibility and compositional approach. Notable solo exhibitions include Seasons of Memory at Khartoum Art Center (1996), exhibitions at the French Cultural Center in Khartoum (1996, 2011), Cry Azoum at the German Cultural Center in Khartoum (2001, 2004), Behind the Doors (2011), and Black & White: January 10th; Once Again in Nairobi (2025). His work has also been featured in group exhibitions and international events, including the Cairo Biennale, Moscow Youth Festival, Sudan Art Aid in London, and exhibitions across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. His works are held in collections in Khartoum, Kampala, Cairo, and Syria.
Now based in Nairobi, Hafiez continues to develop painting-led projects that engage with memory, displacement, and resilience.
