In the shadow of the Merowe Dam in Northern Sudan, local brickmakers mix earth with the water of the Nile River. The men fire the wet clay over mudded kilns fed by dry brush, as steam rises in thick clouds off the baking blocks. As they labor in the hot sun, voiceovers in English, French, and Arabic recount creation myths in which mankind is fashioned from mud.
The construction of Africa’s largest hydropower plant displaced more than 50,000 people as it transformed ecosystems and flooded cultural and archaeological sites. The grand scale and sophistication of the dam contrasts starkly with the brickmakers’ spare conditions, underscoring the destructive potential of development and heightening the tension between tradition and modernity.
Ali Cherri is a Lebanese artist who makes film, sculpture, paintings, and installations, often combining found artifacts with handmade forms. He has devoted significant time to making work in and about Sudan, including the fictional film Le Barrage (The Dam), which features the same men pictured in this artwork. Of Men and Gods and Mud premiered at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, where it was awarded the Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition.
Ali Cherri
Of Men and Gods and Mud, 2022
Three-channel video with sound, 18:20
© Ali Cherri, courtesy the Artist and Galerie Imane Fáres, Paris
