Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the nexus of art and patronage by unveiling certain networks in Khartoum crossing art education, collectors, writers, art critics and curators and last but not least the artists themselves. The role and work of the artist Kamala Ishaq will be the point of departure.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the nexus of art and patronage unveiling certain entanglements of Khartoums' recent art history. The role and work of the artist Kamala Ishaq will be the point of departure to investigate the layers and notions of these networks across art education, collecting, writing and curating. Spanning a period from the 1960s up to now, Kamala Ishaq, the most active and productive women artist in Sudan, left a huge impact on the art scene and continues to promote art making. To unfold critically the tangents of patronage through a mapping of interferences, this paper follows theoretically a diffractive reading as proposed by Donna Harraway, Karen Barad and Trinh Minh-Ha.