Salah El Mur

• Name — Salah Elmur • Education — College of Fine and Applied Art • Movement — modern Sudanese art • Website — https: elmur.weebly.com/index.html • Alma Mater — Sudan University of Science and Technology • Born — 1966 • Birthplace — Al Jarif, Sudan • Birth Name — صلاح المر

Elmur is known as a painter, filmmaker, photographer, illustrator, and author of several children's books. He studied at the College of Fine and Applied Arts in Khartoum and obtained his degree in graphic design from Sudan University of Science and Technology in 1989. Next, he worked as graphic designer for Sudanow magazine. Following the military coup that brought Omar al-Bashir to power in 1989, Elmur moved to Nairobi: “I fled to Kenya when they [security forces] arrested me for drawing a cartoon for the magazine depicting the coup.” he says. Four years later, Elmur relocated to Cairo, with frequent visits to his home country. Elmur grew up in a family of fishermen in a village on the Blue Nile, and memories of his childhood have been a recurrent influence on his painting. Another inspiration have been studio photographs of sitters that he inherited from his father's photographic studio. Several of his paintings were inspired by the Sunut Forest near the confluence of the White Nile and Blue Nile, where Khartoumites used to spend their free time. Fruits are another preferred subject of Elmur. They can be found again and again in his paintings, just like people and animals. His works feature insects, fruits and people. Time and again, it is the bird in various forms and colours that he depicts in those paintings – sitting on the head of a person or on an arm, rocking on a rope or flying high above the other images. His painting style has been described as surrealistic, but not to the point of incomprehensibility. He favors bold tones in thick paint strokes complemented with occasional shades of lighter hues. "The colours in my paintings are very strong because of the sun in my country and also because of the people there, who love to wear colourful clothes," said Elmur. The subjects express unreserved emotional capacities; although the paintings do not include significant events or action, each face appears to have a story behind it. The curator of an exhibition at the residence of the European Commission in Cairo, organised and arranged by Mashrabia Gallery described his works saying "His paintings are full of symbols and rituals, but it is never clear what they really are – that makes them very mysterious and attractive." As a filmmaker, Elmur has directed and produced six short films, stylistically situated between documentary and fantasy film. He won the Jury Prize (special acknowledgement) for his film "Heaven's Bird" at the International Short Film festival "Images that matter" in Ethiopia in 2010. Elmur has also been active as writer or illustrator of international children's literature, such as Hamdi Abo Golayyel's Heroes of Old and several other illustrated books in Arabic, French, English, Italian, German and Spanish. • Illustration — Salah Elmur: A Monkey and an Artichoke, Acrylic on canvas, 185 x 185 cm, 2017 Elmur is married with Souad Abdelrassoul (b.1974), an Egyptian artist, and they live in Cairo.

• Salah Elmur Fragrances of the Forest and Photos, Sharjah Art Museum, United Arab Emirates, 2018 • Forests and Spirits: figurative art from the Khartoum School. SALON at Saatchi Gallery, London, UK, 2018. • Salah Elmur. EXPO Chicago, April 2022 • Central Electricity and Water Administration, Gallery 1957 and Vigo Gallery, London, 2023.

Salah El Mur is recorded with the occupation screenwriter. Recorded with the occupation illustrator. Recorded with the occupation painter. Recorded with the occupation artist. Recorded as painter, screenwriter, artist and illustrator. Established in Library of Congress under n2008200272. Established in VIAF under 2763546. Established in FAST under 1991198.