Sulfuric Acid is sometimes a by product of the oil refining process and in the Sudan oil is a large part of the problem.

Suchow is a random city in China, which I chose to depict in this drawing simply for China's role in affecting outcomes in Darfur. China has been instrumental in blocking international sanctions against Sudan, intended to stop the fighting in Darfur, through its U.N. veto power. It is also Sudan's main investor, buys most of its oil and sells Sudan plenty of weapons.

It was very difficult for me to create positive hopeful imagery for the story of Darfur in the Sudan. I did try. My biggest inspiration was El Fadel himself, who is really an amazing young man who is strong, positive and hopeful. This acronym lays out the formula for what will save Darfur, Sudan and the world. The larger orb or world represents the larger force or power. It holds the smaller orb in a nurturing fashion. Each orb radiates with nerve cells or veins. It is my belief that we can end the death and destruction that continues to take place in Darfur by being sincere, candid, organized and not giving up!

Succession can mean something that "follows". I'm suggesting here a definition in relation to Darfur and the Sudan as having a very long history of successive rulers or conquerers. In the case of the "Fur" tribe of Darfur, their history is long and complex but it is really only in the last two decades that the ruling government has engaged in a campaign of extermination against them. Prior to this their culture has always, for the most part, been preserved, despite successive rule.

This drawing depicts the signers of the 2005 Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. In my research for this project it felt to me that this was a very important positive development for the Sudan....a "success" against the Government of Sudan, who has gotten away with a great deal of oppression against the people of Sudan, both in the South and in Darfur. John Garang led the SPLM and gave a long speech at the signing ceremony. Parts of this speech are transcribed throughout these drawings.

This drawing depicts a Russian made Antonov plane. This weapon has been modified from a personnel carrier so that it could be used to drop bombs on villages, which the Government of Sudan continues to do to its own citizens. Of course the government has denied doing this, thus the title of this drawing: "Subterfuge".

In Sudan, the Voice of the Antonov Sows Terror:

"The bombing is completely ineffective militarily because the chances of hitting anything are so small. Virtually non-existent. There really isn't a strategy other than to scare everybody," Donatella Rovera, Sudan researcher at London-based Amnesty International human rights group told Reuters.

This drawing's word "subsistence" defines, essentially how the greater part of the population of Sudan survives. Most of the population depends on agriculture and raising livestock to sell and provide food. Much of the oil exploration and development has upset and destroyed this already tenuous lifestyle. My drawings here often depict two spheres or two worlds edging into the picture frame, representing the overall theme of this body of work, that two very different worlds have come into contact or, I should say, collision. In the lower edge of this drawing the world on the left spouts water; the most important liquid for the population's sustenance and on the right oil; the substance which has probably caused and driven much of the destructive forces that are wreaking havoc in Sudan today.

What I discovered that caused me to create this particular acronym was that there are certain efficiencies in rural living that get lost with urbanization. For hundreds of years communities and cultures in the Sudan had established a balance of livestock raising and livestock trading. Oil exploration, for the most part, disrupted this balance throwing many people, villages and communities off large areas of land, creating refugees who inevitably sought cities as a place to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Not everyone made a bee-line to a city and even those who did make it to a city rarely found much opportunity. Some groups traveled to other regions and thus, not surprisingly, caused conflict with their neighbors.

This acronym, "Sublease" suggested to me the idea that the land of a region or country would be monetized somehow through complex arrangements outside of any purpose that would benefit the people who actually lived on it. I chose to suggest here that Europeans had "stolen" or destroyed the ungulates or hoofed animals native to Sudan decades ago and that, even though it is too late to prevent that now, it is a lesson in understanding how extraction economics leaves a country or region barren in the end.

While researching this word I learned that Gahdaffi has played a significant role in contributing to abuses that have occurred in Darfur. His Islamic Legion was created to Arabize the sub saharan region and though it did not last, evolved into Tajamu al Arabi, translated as ''Arab Gathering''. Initially a clandestine group, the Arab Gathering finally emerged publicly in October 1987 when it sent an open letter to the then Sudanese prime minister calling for the ''Arab race'' to be given greater regional authority at the expense of the Fur and Zaghawa tribes, who were identified as "non-Arabs". The Gathering called these groups "zurga" and "abid", terms implying that they were slaves. The intensity of the violence practiced by these Arab militias earned them the nickname ''Janjaweed", which means "devil on a horse", from the local Masalit tribes.

(http://goo.gl/6cIbY)