Walking between houses, Paul Julien in Sudan

April 2015 Sudanese photographer Elsadig Mohamed and I tried to relate the photographs that Paul Julien made when traveling through the country in 1933 and 1948 to stories and realities alive in present day Sudan. This initial research was pretty successful and we thought a first presentation of the work done was in place to see how a Sudanese audience would respond to our attempts. The exhibition was installed in a minimum amount of time. There were hundreds of people (estimates range between 5 and 9 hundred) at the opening. Whether they came for the photographs or for the concert that took place outside of the museum we will never know. People did show an interest in what was on the wall and we will continue towards next presentations both in and outside of Sudan.

Walking Between Houses, the title of the Sudanese part of the larger Paul Julien project is titled ‘Walking Between Houses’. This is part of a Sudanese proverb, referring to the in between place as the source of knowledge. The photographs Julien made in Sudan can be found on this Facebook page. A film impression of the exhibition with responses of visitors was made by Rhea Schmitt for the Goethe Institute in Khartoum.