Sudan war: Heavy hearts for the artists painting the pain of conflict

Artist Galal Yousif managed to flee Sudan when conflict erupted earlier this year with only a few belongings stuffed into a small backpack. The turmoil and bag, in which he had crammed his passport, two pairs of jeans, five shirts and a car key, is depicted in his painting Man With a Heavy Heart.

He first created the work as a mural in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, which he reached after a harrowing journey in June.

Having now found temporary refuge in Kenya, he has recreated it on canvas - a striking image of a man with a hand over his heart, surrounded by large circular red dots resembling gunshot wounds.

A moon shines behind his head and lying on the ground is the backpack - symbolising all that Sudanese people have lost in the eight-month conflict. He had initially packed his car key thinking he would be back home soon.

"I paint my pain," he tells me in his home-cum-studio in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.