Displaying community expressions and Documenting Collective Memory Shifts In Sudan
About Sudan Resilience Expressions (SRE)
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For centuries, Sudan has been a nation fractured by cultural exclusion, marginalization, and systemic non-inclusiveness, this divisions produced both reality and memory, where communities remain fragmented along ethnic, regional, and ideological lines. Sudan's social complications, which have contributed to the repeated cycles of wars and conflicts, has been shaped by shattered social fabric, and poor diversity practices, rooted in lack of representation, recognition of others and acceptance of others' culture.​
In mid-April 2023, another devastating war broke out in Sudan, leaving behind deep loss of casualties, massive displacement, a collapse of cultural establishments and spaces that once allowed individuals and communities to come together, and a shock to cultural/ Community actors and artists represented by: Their displacement and loss of their resources and artworks. The war disrupted daily life, tore apart the social fabric and paused cultural interaction which constitutes a devastating blow to the core of the national identity, community peace, and the collective memory of the Sudanese people.
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Sudan Resilience Expressions (SRE) is a project that comes as a response to these urgent challenges, and the need to keep an eye on Sudan narratives. SRE is an open platform displaying individual and community expressions, observing collective memory shifts, maintain the flow of accessible cultural and artistic interactions during war times in Sudan, It also collect, curates and shares the research, articles, and reports on Sudan’s cultural, social and humanitarian dynamics . providing an interactive space where Sudanese people can exhibit, reflect, connect, and express how they’ve experienced these difficult times — in their own words, artworks, emotions, and forms. The project aims to build community peace and promote the spirit of unity among Sudanese by providing comprehensive platforms to display community and cultural expressions.
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What We Do
The project provide platforms for dialogue and community interactions providing an interactive space to exhibit what shapes the collective memory of Sudanese. We create digital and physical spaces that allow Sudanese from different backgrounds to:
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Share their stories, artwork, insights, struggles, and hopes
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Document how their communities are coping with war and displacement
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Express social solidarity, resilience, and ways of adapting
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find share articles, research papers, humanitarian reports and peace efforts
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Engage in conversations around peace, unity, identity, and belonging
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Preserving and archiving this production to help forming a dynamic national identity, and displaying all forms of flexibility, steadfastness and cultural cooperation to the Sudanese to ensure that this hard moments heritage remains available and alive for future generations.
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SRE Platforms focus on the community expressions, cultural and artistic production, yet it sheds light on the broader Sudan narrative including humanitarian situation, human rights status, peace progress, social and political interactions, reflecting on how Sudanese communities have coped with the conflict and the accompanying socio-political, economic, and cultural challenges.
How does the project interact with the general political, social and cultural context in Sudan?
SRE interacts closely with the general context in Sudan, and seeks to provide clear contributions to the challenges facing the country. In light of the ongoing war, supporting Community expressions, art and culture, providing platforms of healing and representation is an effective means to address the roots of the challenges with its social and cultural nature. It provides the tools to analyze Sudanese society, contribute to building its dynamic national identity, and promote the concepts of unity, steadfastness, and societal resilience.
Documenting and archiving cultural and artistic production contributes to preserving Sudanese collective memory and cultural heritage in the face of challenges.
The project supports writers, journalists, artists, cultural actors, and cultural institutions, contributing to empower them to continue their production and movement, and enables to safeguard this important segment of society in light of difficult times.
Continuous interaction with society through the medium of culture and art enables researchers and anthropologists to engage with the interactions and dynamics of Sudanese society, and provide better environment for data-deiven observations.
The project is considered a platform for dialogue and interaction between creatives and society, which contributes to achieving cultural communication and strengthening community ties.
Who are the participants in this project, to whom does it address?
Digitally: The project is open to all Sudanese citizens, artists, cultural actors, writers, journalists, researchers and cultural initiatives, especially those that work to promote the concept of cultural resilience and community unity and support.
The project also addresses the Sudanese public who are interested in culture and art and want to participate and interact with the community expressions, cultural events and art exhibitions organized by the project.
On-ground: The project targets both displaced and host communities in the new geographical narrative all around Sudan ( Starting with the safest cities that witnessed the largest rates of displacement) facilitating the process of social and cultural integration.
The project also targets anthropologists, researchers, theorists and historians interested in Sudanese culture and social dynamics.
How does the project approach the concepts of the commons, cultural rights and representation, and collective ownership?
​The project approaches the concept of the commons by encouraging collaboration and mutual interaction between individuals, artists, cultural initiatives, and the community. It aims to provide platforms for free and safe expression of culture and identity, considering cooperation with the community as an essential part of its strategy.
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Promoting the right to practice, share and access culture and identity aligns with the concept of the commons which is a core value that SRE holds. It enhances a sense of collective ownership, which in turn supports the values of unity and acceptance. SRE is inseparable from the concept of the commons, which is at the heart its the theory of change.
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The project adopts a "by Sudanese for Sudanese" approach, considering the cultural production process as originating from the public's experiences, and the entire acculturation process, from production to management and consumption, is by all, accessible to all, for the benefit of all.
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