The Song of the Tyrant's Bird from Prison Notebook
Ibrahim El-Salahi
Sudanese, born 1930
1976
A page of ink on paper from Ibrahim El‑Salahi’s 1976 prison notebook in which the artist draws a large, tilted bird alongside handwritten Arabic lines, using image and text to turn confinement into a poetic, symbolic reflection.
What hits you first is the bold, smoky wash of the bird—rendered as if mid‑tilt—set against flowing, calligraphic Arabic script and a faint arched doorway above, a mute tension between flight and enclosure.
This intimate drawing links modernist draftsmanship with African and Arab calligraphic traditions and personal testimony, helping to expand a postcolonial language of abstraction and political witness.
Medium
Ink on paper from a notebook with thirty-eight ink on paper drawings
Dimensions
11 1/4 × 6 3/4" (28.6 × 17.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Catie and Donald Marron, Alice and Tom Tisch (in honor of Christophe Cherix), Marnie Pillsbury and Committee on Drawings and Prints Fund
Accession
319.2017.9
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
