Rashid Diab

People of Nowhere,  2025;

Acrylic on Canvas

Rashid Diab (1957) is a visual artist and art historian. Born and raised in Sudan and then lived in Madrid for 20 years to then return back to Sudan for the furthering of the art scene. Since 1976 he has exhibited all over the world, recently in Lebanon, Kenya, Spain, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Algeria and more. He has won prizes at Biennial’s in Cairo, Abu-Dhabi, Taipei and received many honours too like Ambassador for peace, Japan 2007. He was awarded the icon climate as an ambassador of environment from the British Council in Khartoum 2010 and was also awarded the Cross of the Order of civil merit by the then King of Spain Juan Carlos I in 2013.

Today he has had to flee back to Spain due to the ongoing war in Sudan. But he was living in Khartoum and worked both at his home studio and at the Rashid Diab Art Centre, a non-profit organization he founded in 2006 to further the opportunities of Sudanese art and artists.

Climate change is intensifying Sudan’s environmental and humanitarian crises. Rising temperatures and declining rainfall are worsening desertification, shrinking arable land, and forcing pastoralists and farmers to compete for dwindling resources. Prolonged droughts reduce crop yields and livestock survival, deepening food insecurity in a country already affected by conflict and poverty.

At the same time, heavier and less predictable rains cause flash floods that destroy homes and infrastructure, displacing hundreds of thousands each year. As water sources dry up and fertile land turns to dust, climate stress fuels migration and intercommunal tensions, amplifying instability and threatening livelihoods across rural Sudan.