Tibian Bahari: Unraveling Identity, Soil, and Ritual in Art

Tibian Bahari, a self-taught multidisciplinary conceptual artist, brings together identity, geography, and politics in her diverse practice. Born in Sudan with a background in International Relations, her work weaves personal and collective narratives into visual explorations of land, memory, and belonging. Her work is shown at “Ruins, Derelicts & Erasure” – a new exhibition at VCUarts Qatar’s Gallery, curated by Meriem Aiouna and Dina Alkhateeb.

Tibian engages with various mediums, including textile printmaking, etching, environmental art, performance, and Land art. At VCUarts Qatar Gallery, for the exhibition, Ruins, Derelicts & Erasure, Tibian presents her works continuing her inquiry into the relationship between self and soil.

SCALE sits down with Tibian Bahari to delve into her artistic journey, her engagement with soil as a medium of ritual, and how art becomes an act of resistance and remembrance. Tibian shares a deeply personal ritual—one that has subtly shaped her artistic practice. “Every time I leave my country, my mother or my siblings carry some sand from under my feet,” Tibian recalls.

This quiet act of preservation, of carrying the land forward, is a gesture of remembrance and belonging, that ties Tibian to her beloved land of Sudan.

For Tibian, who explores themes of displacement, geography, and identity, this ritual is more than just a personal memory—it is an ancestral act of resilience. “Soil is not just earth; it holds history, movement, and stories of those who walked before us,” she explains. Her practice, which often integrates soil as both medium and subject, extends this tradition into a broader conversation of the ties between land and self.

Through her performances and installations, Tibian reinterprets this inherited practice into a contemporary artistic language. Whether through etching, textile printmaking, or land art, she challenges dominant narratives and asks: What does it mean to belong to a place? How do we carry our homes with us when we move?

This ritual of collecting soil speaks to the larger displacement of Sudanese people, as well as to the universal experience of migration. “It’s a way of ensuring that no matter where we go, a part of home comes with us,” she says.

A significant installation of Tibian’s, Al-Attar at the VCUarts Qatar Gallery Space symbolises Sudan’s poetic essence and rituals of return. This artwork is part of an on-going project that involves the collection of sand from Sudan, gathered by friends, family, and the broader Sudanese community. This work is an active spiritual call for action through an artistic lens rather than a political lens for sands to be collected from each state of Sudan, as a ritual practice of hope — a practice passed on by ancestors for taking sands from under the travelers feet for the purpose of coming back home.

Today, for Tibian, the sand represent not only the connection to her homeland but also a deep, personal belief in the possibility and the activism of return. It is a story of a ritual, a prayer and a hopeful belief and practice rooted in colours, nostalgia, emotions, women, feelings, and remembrance. In her work, soil becomes a vessel for memory, a material that transcends borders and resists erasure.

SCALE: Your work deeply engages with soil as both a material and a concept. Could you elaborate on its significance to your practice?

Tibian Bahari: Soil is a conduit of memory. It carries the weight of histories, migrations, and dispossessions. In my practice, it is more than a material—it is a witness, a keeper of stories. Working with soil is a ritual for me; I gather it from places of personal and collective significance, allowing it to speak through its texture, its colour, and its presence in my work. The process of handling, layering, and even performing with soil becomes an act of connection, of reclaiming space, and of grounding oneself in histories that are often erased or forgotten.

SCALE: How does ritual play a role in your artistic process?

Tibian: Ritual is at the core of my work. It manifests in the way I collect materials, the gestures I employ while working, and the performative acts that accompany my installations. Through rituals, my work becomes a bridge between past and present, between personal and political narratives.

SCALE: Your practice also engages with textiles and printmaking. How do these elements complement your exploration of identity and geography?

Tibian: Textiles, like soil, are carriers of history. The patterns, the fibers, and the techniques used in traditional Sudanese textile-making hold stories of migration, labor, and heritage. When I work with printmaking and fabric, I am engaging with these histories while also questioning contemporary displacements and erasures. My textile works often incorporate soil-based pigments, further intertwining land and body. These elements create a layered dialogue between materiality and meaning, between what is seen and what is felt.

In the Fabric of Space: Tracing the natural, which is a central art work in my practice, I use textiles to conceptualise movements, traces, displacement and the physical body. Sudan’s historical relationship with cotton production, using fabric to document movement, resilience, and survival is explored in this work.

SCALE: As a conceptual artist, your work transcends traditional boundaries. How do you navigate the intersection of art, activism, and education? And as an artist what do you think art should do?

Tibian: Art, for me, is inherently political. It is a space of resistance, a tool for reclaiming narratives, and a means of fostering dialogue. My work challenges dominant geopolitical discourses by foregrounding personal histories and marginalized perspectives. Beyond the gallery space, I engage in workshops and collaborations that use art as a means of education and empowerment. Whether working with displaced communities, students, or emerging artists, I see these interactions as extensions of my practice—ways to create collective knowledge and shared agency.

Art has to be truthful, that is all it has to be and the rest will follow.

SCALE: What message do you hope audiences take away from your work?

Tibian: I want my work to evoke a sense of recognition, a moment of pause where one questions their relationship to land, identity, and history. I hope to create spaces of contemplation—where soil, fabric, and gesture tell stories that resonate across geographies and experiences. Ultimately, my work is about remembering, about holding onto what is often deemed invisible or insignificant. If viewers walk away feeling a deeper connection to the ground beneath them, then my work has served its purpose.

All Images Courtesy VCUarts Qatar

Main Image Courtesy @Abdelrahim Kattab