I’ve Been Thinking A Lot About Water Lately

“I've Been Thinking A Lot About Water Lately” is a multimedia project that centres water in routes of movement and human survival. It seeks to explore the ground routes and waterways taken by individuals to move from areas of conflict to safer lands or to temporary hosting countries until the conflict in Sudan resolves. It aims to document complex interplay between land use, and community support roles in conflict, using maps and motifs derived from unease. It also looks into the connections of water, movement, and survival. Verbal recommendations played a significant role in the movement of people and their choice of routes during the war, this project follows the same approach where it will rely on storytelling and interviews for data excavation. The term “Safe Passages” has been in use since the 2018 revolution as a means to communicate secure information and allow for movement during protests. During the war it continued to appear on social media interactions when enquiries were published about the best routes to leave Khartoum. This movement had a few demonstrated routes that people took whether they were leaving from Khartoum to other states or to other countries outside of Sudan. The same has prevailed for those leaving from other states like Aljazeera state. These routes of movement have resulted in the birth of temporary or transient cities that act as a passage or have turned into temporary or permanent settlements based on their location and characteristics affecting and hence changing their urban, social, and economic structure. A basic overview of these displacement and migration routes reveals movement along The Nile up to the north to cities like Halfa, Attbara and countries like Egypt. Moving east leads to migrations to or via Ethiopia and Eritrea. This shows a deep connection to water that not only surfaces now but has been existing with the rise of civilization. We stop here to question the relationship between water and movement. The project seeks to study, visualise, and analyse these routes and how these cities came to be what they are in the shadow of conflict. The project follows routes as they reach a temporary position, it does not focus on a final destination, yet it questions the motives behind the choice of movement. Artwork: Khartoum, 29.7 X 42 cm, Cyanotype Print on Fabric, 2026