Shibrain was born in 1931 in
Berber, Sudan. Along with
Ibrahim El-Salahi, Shibrain is considered one of the leading representatives of the art movement called
School of Khartoum that combined
Islamic,
African and
Western artistic traditions. Both artists are also representatives of the so-called
hurufiyya-movement (derived from the Arabic word for
letter), as they developed contemporary pictorial representation from traditional
Arabic calligraphy. Shibrain's large-format calligraphy, in which the words of Islamic texts are interpreted as independent ornaments and images, attracted international attention. Among other collections, his works are represented in the collections of the
Barjeel Art Foundation in the
United Arab Emirates and of the
National Archives (formerly
Harmon Foundation) in Washington, D.C. Shibrain died in Khartoum on 23 March 2017, aged 82. == Major exhibitions ==