Writings
From Hassan − about Hassan

POLITICAL CARTOONS (2021)
Hassan Musa has always been very active and involved regarding the commentary of the Sudanese political situation. He did so through discussions and forums, but also through his political cartoon work, from the 1970's until today.
"I started drawing cartoons in my youth. High schools in Sudan had « wall newspapers », and as a student, I was allowed to draw my first cartoons. They were often about teachers and daily life concerns, but growing up and following the work of Egyptian cartoonist in the press, they became more incisive and discussed political and social issues in Sudan."

DANGER OF SEEING (2020)
« What makes one image more dangerous than another? Is it the way we see the image or is it the way we use it? »
The 19th century Romanticism celebrated the artist as a sacred figure, a Prophet or a Demiurge. Maybe this is why we expect artists to be naturally good, compassionate, progressist and even revolutionary. So, don’t worry if you feel disappointed when discovering the dark side of artists we admire. Artists, like everybody else, are ordinary and extraordinary at the same time...

CONTEMPORARY CALLIGRAPHY (2019)
Hassan Musa's calligraphy work and approach is quite unique. As it distances itself from conventional calligraphy practices, it develops into what HM likes to call image making. Here is a little anecdote that illustrate Hassan Musa's approach to calligraphy as a way to create images. It includes, in HM's own words, how he regards HIS calligraphy work.

GHOSTS OF AFRICA IN EUROPE'S MUSEUM (2007)
To shed light on the current terms of the debate posed by European ethnomuseologists regarding the status of African objects that populate their museums, Hassan Musa cunningly takes politically incorrect shortcuts: What to do with Africans? What about the place they occupy in the time and space of Europeans? What should be done with the stuffed African corpses—like that of the Hottentot Venus—that lie in their cabinets? Or even: why are contemporary "African" artists called upon to recycle these objects that were once violently stolen from their ancestors? Delicious.

BANANA ALLEGORY (2006)
"I see Josephine Baker as an American choreographer (translate : European choreographer), who managed to build a remarkable whole repertoire of primitivist choreography. Choreographies that she presented, on European stages, as “ African ” dance. But Josephine Baker was not only a choreographer, she was also a black American who found refuge in Europe after having experienced the misery and brutality of American racism at the beginning of the 20th century."
This is an excerpts of the correspondance between Hassan Musa and Kerstin Pinther for the catalog of the “ Black Paris ” exhibition (Bayreuth, Frankfurt and Brussels, 2006-2008).

10 TIPS ON HOW NOT TO BECOME AN AFRICAN ARTIST (1995)
To my friends who asked me why I do not feel comfortable in « Contemporary African Art » although I am African.
Here is a little piece I wrote to accompany my performance at the major event AFRICA '95, back in 1995, in London.
About HASSAN − From Hassan

Hassan Musa: Unfolding Artistic Realms From Sudan to France (2022)
An article by Lybian blogger Malak Altaeb, an analyst, independent writer, and researcher from Libya based in Paris, France :
" [...] During our conversation, Hassan Musa and I got the chance to tackle the landscape of Art in Sudan and the changes it went through. Following the independence of Sudan in 1956, national Art was the dominant topic of discussion in Sudan. The debate was prominent in creating a pure Sudanese art that represents the country and the society. Nationalism was already conflicting with the general landscape of Sudan as the country stands between Arabism and Africanism. .... »

I LOVE YOU WITH MY AK-47 (2020)
Interview of Hassan Musa by his gallerist, Maïa Muller, on the occasion of the exhibition [I LOVE YOU] at Galerie Maïa Muller (2020.9.15).
" [...] This is a work based on Gauguin’s painting Spirit of the Dead Watching. Gauguin painted his wife nude, lying on a bed. It’s one of the powerful images that Gauguin left us. It’s an admirable image. But beyond the admiration for Gauguin’s image, there’s also what the image says [...] "

MUSA LE FOU, MUSA LE SAGE - Simon Njami (2015)
On the occasion of the solo exhibition YO MAMA at the Galerie Maïa Muller in Paris, notorious curator Simon Njami wrote about Hassan Musa:
" [...] Ernst Bloch would have been happy to meet Hassan Musa. He, who, in the spirit of utopia, lamented the helplessness into which human society was already sinking. Hassan Musa's hand has not stopped tinkering. Hassan Musa's mind has not forgotten how to play. But to play, one must have that ironic distance that allows one to laugh at everything, but with anyone... »

EYE FOR AN EYE, IMAGE FOR AN IMAGE - Hassan Musa in Conversation with Jean-Hubert Martin (2014)
In 2014, Hassan Musa wrote a letter to famous art historian and curator Jean-Hubert Martin to answer him about a proposition to take part in the exhibition "Partage d'Exotisme".
The letter itself was later published as the foreword of the exhibition's catalog. In the meantime Hassan Musa and Jean-Hubert Martin engaged in a conversation about identity, politics, and the state of the world, including colonization and the status of artists in Sudan.