Tsawwar… Israa Alrrayah
"On the 6th of June 2023, I left Khartoum for the last time—my home. I had hoped for a final farewell, but there was none. Graves lined the roadside; houses stood open, looted, and violated by the RSF. I remember the look in their eyes, as if they had already claimed everything that once belonged to us. We traveled north to my mother’s village. There, I captured this photograph of village women and displaced women from Khartoum gathering in a space once used for religious lessons. Over time, it became more than that—a place to share stories, discuss daily struggles, and help newcomers feel at home. After two months of witnessing destruction in Khartoum, that space offered a glimpse of healing, community, and hope. Today, Sudan enters its third year of systematic assaults on civilians. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has deliberately targeted towns and villages, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including massacres, the use of systematic rape as a weapon of war, looting, and the burning of villages. In El Fasher, Darfur, the RSF attacked unarmed civilians and proudly documented their actions. Satellite imagery has revealed widespread bloodshed. Families remain cut off from communication in areas such as Bara in North Kordofan, where massacres have also been reported. The same pattern was evident in the siege of El Obeid, which led to starvation and humanitarian collapse, and in the massacres across Al-Jazira State. This is only a fraction of what continues to unfold in Sudan, not heard, not seen. To my people, may your stories be told, your pain acknowledged, and your hope not fade."
Israa Alrrayah is a Sudanese documentary photographer and visual storyteller whose work captures human emotions and highlights cultural, historical, and human rights issues through personal narratives. She is currently studying photojournalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX) in Denmark 2025. She began her professional photography career amid the hardships of war in 2023, yet her work exhibited internationally across South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Qatar, Germany, France and Denmark. Aspiring to carve a space in the global photography community as a Sudanese woman, Israa is committed to uncovering untold truths and conveying messages of hope, and resilience.
Tsawwar is an ongoing visual series in Daftar which explores the stories behind a photograph, taken in the region or by an Arab photographer, written in their own words.
