It’s astonishing how our hands and fingers can move in different directions, creating many shapes and expressive forms. The tiny bones, ligaments, tendons, veins, and stretchy skin are magnificent. You’ll be dazzled by how much we can say using our hands and their gestures through Hashim Nasr’s conceptual artworks of photography.

CONNECTING 🐚 Do You Hear The Voices?

Hashim is a 32-year-old dentist and visual artist. Born and raised in Khartoum, he focuses on fine art photography and installation, creating a conceptual practice that blends minimalism with abstraction. Hashim never set out to be an artist, but when he found beauty in his hands and the shapes they could generate, he jumped straight from science to art. In his recent project “Locked Out Of Space-time”, where he depicted a shirtless man lying down in the sand with his head hidden in sugar cane fields, he challenged convention. He examined new methodologies to create art and meaning by finding a basis in conceptualism.

His artistic practice elicits conflicting emotions of desire and revulsion, fear and fascination, and love and vulnerability. A key element throughout his work is the relationship between image, language and art. You can’t look at his work without referring to his continuous developing effort through which he succeeded in producing complex yet drastically simplified bodies of artworks playing with shadows to highlight spirituality, hope, and nostalgia.

Locked Out of Spacetime Part II, In Frame @aldonjoanbisha

Shot on @huawei Y9, Edited via @lightroom

Where many conceptual artists were only interested in the concept and aimed to dematerialise their artworks, Hashim was interested in both the idea and the material quality of the artwork. He innovatively took photography, influenced by the brutal simplicity of minimalism, to create radical and groundbreaking conceptual performances in myriad forms. Inspired by hands, using them as potential viewpoints to transform certain popular topics into authentic conceptual artworks that are as striking as drawings. Hashim explores the realm of the politics of the body and the ever-shifting relations to culture, society and the environment. He is one of the first Sudanese artists to use his own body as an artistic medium to challenge the viewer to engage, participate or question invisible structure, rejecting the standards of usual in a quest for liberation.

A Soul Searching For Peace In Difficult Times
Self-Portrait Experience

“Mostly, I love how black and white directly guide you to the core of the meaning of the photograph and make you THINK AND FEEL. Although I believe conceptual photographs don’t necessarily tell you the exact meaning of what you see.

When we asked Hashim about his artwork, he stated :

“I remember being enchanted by pop music, accompanied by the appearance of Lady Gaga for the first time back then, which enriched my visual background and led me to dive more into the surreal and conceptual art world.

Then, I started photography during my college period, taking landscape shots with my middle-quality phone, but it wasn’t a serious attempt until the hectic nightmare of the summer of 2020. During Covid quarantine, I found myself inspired and deeply connected with my inner self like I have never been before, to the point that it makes me look for ways to express my ideas through photography. Yet, I faced some difficulties, including having no models to shoot sessions with, and I lacked the self-esteem to act as a model myself. Therefore, I used my hands as the easily accessible object around me, then later discovered their ability to send different emotions & motives. From that period, I started my journey with conceptual art, depending only on my phone camera and natural sunlight coming from my window to shoot different projects.”

Two Hands x Window Light Two Hands x Window Light

He also answered, “How does your work as a Dentist influence your conceptual artwork?”

“Being a dentist for almost six years professionally after graduation has impacted my constant eagerness for perfectionism. I think dealing with my visions of art and ideas is the same as dealing with people’s lives; it is stressful yet always challenging and exciting to change someone’s life for the better.”

He is best known for his multidisciplinary practice, incorporating various mediums in his artworks, including mirrors, flowers, fabric materials and other daily domestic objects to recall motifs to give a sense of totality. During his last project, “Ecstasy”, he built upon a narrative of emotional reflection, resulting in futuristic effects that are completely original in style. By doing so, Hashim contributed to the development of conceptual art in Sudan; my forecast tells me that he’s ready to take the world by storm.

Reflections, Self-portrait experience

About the writer

Mahasin is a widely sociable, outdoorsy 21-year-old art blogger who is driven by curiosity and fascinated by (People). Fangirling over art, American politics, and the hospitality industry may be an entrepreneur in an open journey quest for the meaning of Home.