Ola Alsheikh

Ola Alsheikh, also known as Ola Abbas Alsheikh Omer (; born in Omdurman, Sudan), is a Sudanese freelance documentary photographer. She is mainly known for her pictures of everyday life and social events in Khartoum. In her work, she has placed a special focus on images of women and girls, as well as on the social and ethnic diversity in Sudan.

Life and career

Alsheikh was born in Omdurman, Sudan, and grew up in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Khartoum.

In October 2018, Amateur Photographer magazine published an article about Alsheikh's pictures of modern Sudan. According to this article, Alsheikh bought her first film camera in 1998, but only got seriously involved in documentary photography about twelve years later, when she switched to digital cameras. Since then, she has used her camera to document everyday life, trying to change social awareness. As an example for her documenting special events and celebrations in Sudan, the article mentions her photographs of popular Sufi rituals in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.

During the Sudanese revolution of 2018/19, BBC News published her pictures of demonstrators calling for former president Omar al-Bashir and his government to resign. In 2019, the French newspaper Le Monde published her photo in a story about Eritrean refugees in Khartoum.