Sudanese artists, later to be known as the Khartoum School, who wanted to avoid Western art concepts and were searching for a new artistic identity, drawn from their own culture and heritage. By this, he was one of the first artists of the 20th century to explore modern forms of Arabic calligraphy, integrating African cultural and Islamic visual traditions into contemporary Sudanese compositions. He used Arabic letter forms and filled the space between them with splashes of colour. This use of calligraphy within a non-religious artwork places Waquialla within the Hurufiyah Art Movement (also known as the Al-hurufiyyah movement or the North African Letterist movement). Waqialla's works have been exhibited in Africa, the Middle East, the United States and Europe, including the touring exhibition Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa, which began at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1995. The same year, he also participated in a group exhibition at the Barbican Centre's The Curve Gallery, called Signs, Traces and Calligraphy, curated by Rose Issa. His work can be found in collections of the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., the British Museum, London and in many private collections. The bulk of his work remains in Sudan. List of selected artworks Kaf ha ya ayn sadd, 1980 British Museum Kufic calligraphy, 1991 Calligraphy Coming to Life, date unknown Portrait of a Man, date unknown Selected exhibitions 1952: Osman Waiquialla, Cultural Centre, Khartoum (solo exhibition) 1969: Osman Waiquialla, Camden Art Centre, England (solo exhibition) 1995: Seven Stories Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (exhibition of modern African art) 1995: Signs, Traces and Calligraphy Show, Barbican Art Centre, The Curve Gallery, London 1996: Seven Stories Exhibition, Guggenheim Museum, New York 1999: Writing Arabic, British Museum's touring exhibition 2006: Word into Art, British Museum See also Visual arts of Sudan Islamic art Arabic calligraphy Further reading Porter, Venetia. Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East. British Museum Press, 2006, p. 141 References External links Paintings by Osman Waqialla on Sudan Memory 1925 births 2007 deaths Sudanese artists People from Al Jazirah (state) Calligraphers of Arabic script 20th-century Sudanese painters Sudanese contemporary artists Sudanese painters College of Fine and Applied Art (Khartoum) alumni