In an interview with Voices of Darfur, Buhery Youssef talks about his work as an artist and expresses his views about how to promote fine arts activities in Darfur.

By Ala Mayyahi

Buhery Youssef has been drawing since he was a young boy, inspired by Darfur’s people and the animals and objects that populate the region’s stark and rugged environments. Today, at 33 years old, Mr. Youssef has developed a reputation as one of the most talented artists in the region, not only in Sudan but also in the bordering Arabic and African counties. His talent has earned him several major accolades, including a growing collection of gold medals from regional art contests.

In many of his paintings, he carefully depicts the fragile lives of vulnerable Darfuris. In others, he portrays, in bright colour, the local traditions that underpin life in the villages that together form the backbone of western Sudan. In all of Mr. Youssef ’s work, regardless of the specific objects he depicts, subtle cues indicate his unique point of view in rejecting violence, encouraging compassion for those in need and remaining cautiously optimistic for a better future for Darfur.

In addition to painting regularly, Mr. Youssef, who resides in his hometown of El Geneina, West Darfur, runs his own gallery for traditional art, and leases out another gallery for cultural activities. During his development into a professional artist who regularly exhibits in art shows around the region, he has had the opportunity to meet other accomplished artists, to share ideas and discuss ways to cultivate a love of art in Darfur. In an interview with Voices of Darfur, Mr. Youssef talked about this evolving dialogue and about his work as an artist in Darfur.

Voices of Darfur: As you started drawing since childhood, is there one drawing you did in those days that you remember more than the others?

Youssef: Yes, It was a drawing of a man. I remember it very well not because of the subject of the drawing but because of the story behind it.

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Read the full interview in the January issue of Voices of Darfur. Download the magazine (PDF) here.

Artist Buhery Mohammed Youssef shows his paintings, hung in his studio in El Geneina, West Darfur. Photo by Albert González Farran.