The Long Walk installation film was created in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. Unfolding in real time over seven and a half hours, the work follows the daily journey of local women as they walk to collect water—a task that is physically demanding, emotionally taxing, and inseparable from the harsh realities of life in a conflict zone.

Ali fully immersed herself in this journey, walking alongside the women to understand the cumulative weight of time, the physical strain of their labour, and the oppressive heat under which they travel. Filmed continuously as the walk unfolded, the work captures both the monotony and the intensity of this ritual while revealing the extraordinary endurance required to survive amid civil war, landmines, and threats of personal violence.

The result is both document and meditation: an unbroken record of movement, landscape, and survival, interrupted only briefly for tape changes and moments of military questioning.

The film’s first exhibition took place on a 30-foot LED screen in Trafalgar Square, London, accompanied by public addresses from the Secretary of State for International Development, the Right Honourable Hilary Benn MP, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and WaterAid CEO Dame Barbara Frost.

Following this launch, and supported by WaterAid and Thames Water, the film began its tour of major public spaces, including Grand Central Station in New York, Union Station in Washington D.C. the UN Building in Brussels, Victoria City Centre in Australia, and the Eden Project in Cornwall, as well as the Glastonbury Music Festival for five consecutive years.

The final screening in 2012 took place at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, as part of An Evening of Witness, accompanied by a live orchestra and organised by the Magnum Foundation.