I am a Black graphic designer and publisher who was born but not raised in Khartoum, Sudan. My interests include language, form, and specificity. I am also interested in media, Black studies, and pop culture.
I am an assistant professor at SUNY Purchase, where I teach courses on typography, interactivity, and contemporary design issues. I am also teaching a graduate seminar at Virginia Commonwealth University. From 2015–2017, I taught at the California College of the Arts.
Prior to joining SUNY, I was a book designer at the University of Chicago Press, where I designed the second edition of Crusade for Justice by Ida B. Wells, Merce Cunningham by Carrie Noland, Pick Up the Pieces by John Corbett, and several other books. In 2018, I published headgear.pw, which was designed and programmed by Becca Abbe. In 2017, I published Sapphire Tears with Publication Studio SF. In 2016, I began piecing together a project called Samples and Parallels, which I hope to reboot in 2021. Since 2016, I have also contributed to Women of Graphic Design, a project founded by Tori Hinn.
I will eventually turn this website into a blog with periodic updates, but until then, the following lines will highlight things that have either happened or are happening:
August: I participated in a panel discussion with David Ayala-Alfonso, Ebitenyefa Baralaye, Gina Gwen Palacios, Mrinalini Aggarwal, and Tosha Stimage. Together, we shared our thoughts on how art institutions can better support faculty of color. Many thanks to Deborah Obalil for organizing the conversation and Aaron Bruce for moderating it.
October: My collaboration with Jerome Harris, Pouya Ahmadi, and Nat Pyper has been featured in IDEA Magazine. We worked on bringing “As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes” to Chicago right before the COVID pandemic hit. Thank you, Jon Sueda, for the invitation.
November: I gave a talk titled “Black Textual Intervention” to Google’s design team. In my talk (which will turn into an essay), I shared work by Black authors, artists, and makers who engage in a process of reading and repurposing text. Big thank you to Megan Lynch for having me.
Future: “Entry Point” (an essay for Amalgam); Samples and Parallels (a co-authoring project with Bryce Wilner); Spotty Congregation (a solo exhibition in Michigan); art direction for 580 Split; Are.na Annual contribution (thank you, Omar Mohammad).