At Home in the World: A Memoir

For more than a half century, Ibrahim El-Salahi has been at the forefront of African modernism in the visual arts. A renowned artist, writer, critic, and teacher, El-Salahi continues to refine his unique modernist vision, which combines and challenges Islamic, African, and western paradigms of modernism in the visual arts.

In this engaging memoir, At Home in the World: A Memoir, El-Salahi recalls some of the most formative experiences of his career. From Khartoum to London to Sao Paulo to New York to Doha, and many places in between, El-Salahi shares his wide-ranging intellectual curiosity as he seeks out significant artwork and interesting conversation on several continents.

He introduces his reader to encounters he had with figures such as the African-American modernists Hale Woodruff, Jacob Lawrence, and members of the Spiral Group; the legendary leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad; and the Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo. His memories of passing acquaintances are equally thoughtful and thought-provoking.

El-Salahi also documents his contributions to Sudanese public culture, his unjust imprisonment under a military government, and subsequent exile from Sudan. In this important work, El-Salahi offers new perspectives on his development as an artist and on his foundational contributions to African and Arab modernism. Salah M. Hassan's introduction contextualises El-Salahi's artwork within a global history of modern art and expands its narrative.