Ibrahim El-Salahi has been celebrated for his role in repositioning African art and modernism globally. Pioneering a distinct aesthetic blend of the abstract and the calligraphic—an approach the artist developed through the context of his dual lives in Sudan and Great Britain—El- Salahi initially trained in Arabic calligraphy. He later expanded his understanding of modernism while studying at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. His critique of western ideals—especially those related to primitivism—would help shape his portraiture (in particular, his drawings from the 1960s through to the 1980s, which vividly depict scenes from Sudan as well as international art historical figures, such as Pablo Picasso.) In his later period, El-Salahi reflected on his personal memories of conflict, with a seamless integration of calligraphy and Islamic reliefs alongside motifs from nature. In the drawing Professor Tree, for example, the artist condenses hieroglyphic markings into the form of a tree.

^{*Currently exhibited at The Louvre AD}