ABOUT

Founded in 2026 by Camilla Marchese, Yusef Bushara, and Paris Sistilli, Returning Sands (عودة الرمال) is a kaleidoscopic arts-and-culture campaign focused on amplifying the fight for Sudan’s cultural heritage around the world. Working at the intersection of documentary filmmaking, public exhibition, and intercultural education, Returning Sands seeks to ensure that Sudanese heritage remains visible, accessible, and understood for generations to come. Returning Sands is entirely not-for-profit, and all funds generated are reinvested in the mission. Mission The organisation’s title reflects its most fundamental commitments: to work alongside forcibly displaced Sudanese heritage professionals and artists to envision what return might look like – by the millions, one day, like the grains of sand that populate Sudan’s vast landscapes. Returning Sands aims to cast light on the destruction inflicted upon Sudanese cultural heritage but, more importantly, to offer an alternative vision for the future of Sudan, as written, painted, painted, produced, imagined and created by Sudanese people and their allies around the world.