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Fazal Sheikh

Rachel and Ochol, Family Section, Sudanese Refugee Camp, Lokichoggio, Kenya, 1992-1993

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Rachel and Ochol, Family Section, Sudanese Refugee Camp, Lokichoggio, Kenya

Year

1992-1993

Medium

Toned gelatin silver print from a Polaroid negative

Dimensions

Image: 29.5 x 24.3 cm (11 5/8 x 9 9/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed on verso in graphite at l.l.: Rachel and Ochol, Family Section, Sudanese refugee camp, Lokichoggio/Kenya, 1992/3 Fazal Sheikh/ printed for Light Works Fine Print Program 1994

Type

Credit

Gift from the Roy and Elizabeth Zimmerman Collection

Object Number

2014.43.12

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

It Comes in Many Forms

October 23, 2020 - December 18, 2021

Displaced from their home, a mother and daughter are photographed in front of a refugee encampment. Refugees flocked to Lokichoggio during Sudan’s civil wars, which initially stemmed from conflict when Christian and Indigenous groups sought autonomy from the majority-Muslim government.

Like his subjects here, photographer Fazal Sheikh was also shaped by migration. His Muslim grandfather fled northern India during Partition in 1947 and resettled in Kenya, where the photographer’s father is from. Born in New York, Sheikh does not identify as Muslim, but values parts of the faith and culture that construct his perspective.

Heads Up! Recent Gifts to the Collection

July 31, 2015 - January 10, 2016

These refugees were photographed in a Kenyan camp after they fled the violent civil war in their native Sudan. Avoiding the sensationalism that often characterizes similar images by journalists, Sheikh’s photo emphasizes the humanity and dignity of the women, who confidently meet the artist’s gaze and are identified by name in the work’s title.

Seeing his photography as a means of human-rights activism, Sheikh travels around the world producing images that highlight the physical and emotional toll of the refugee’s life. In advance of creating the pictures, he spends days in the camps getting to know the people and their challenges. The slowness of working with a large-format Polaroid camera allows time for the process to become a collaborative one.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Rachel and Ochol, Family Section, Sudanese Refugee Camp, Lokichoggio, Kenya with the accession number of 2014.43.12. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.