Ironically when I painted this I had never heard of the Janjaweed killers (who got orders directly from Khartoum, Sudan). I was studying a drought in Africa for an adult college class, but learning more than just a weather problem was causing starvation. Crops were also burning. My professor didn't want to hear this and wouldn't discuss it. He only wanted us to learn about the drought. This made me very angry.

One night I painted this watercolor showing death as it's often symbolized abstractly in art, as a pale horse or represented as a rider on a pale horse. But the rest, the violence and thundering of running hooves, death and blood implied in the painting just sort of 'happened.' (I thought maybe it was my own anger with my professor.) I called it "Khartoum" mostly because I liked the sound (little did I know) but now I know it could just as well be called "Janjaweed" after the Sudanese killers who ride into a settlement at night on horseback and hack villagers to death, then burn everything.

When I actually did learn about the Janjaweed a few years later I wondered if somehow, like other artists have, I'd subconsciously picked up a vibe from the universe the night I painted this because I never painted anything like it before or since.

Painted in transparent and metallic gold watercolor pigment.