He studied at the College of Fine and Applied Arts in Khartoum and obtained his degree in graphic design from Sudan University of Science and Technology in 1989.

Following the military coup that brought Omar al-Bashir to power in 1989, Elmur moved to Nairobi: “I fled to Kenya when they [security forces] arrested me for drawing a cartoon for the magazine depicting the coup.” he says.

Time and again, it is the bird in various forms and colours that he depicts in those paintings – sitting on the head of a person or on an arm, rocking on a rope or flying high above the other images.

The curator of an exhibition at the residence of the European Commission in Cairo, organised and arranged by Mashrabia Gallery described his works saying "His paintings are full of symbols and rituals, but it is never clear what they really are – that makes them very mysterious and attractive.

There is the brown horse with the bright-orange roller skates under his hooves or the man with his tongue sticking out, ready to bite into a ripe slice of watermelon – a reference to the people who came to the circus with their picnics, when he was a child growing up in Sudan.

[4] In February 2018, an exhibition inspired by the childhood and early life of Elmur, called Fragrances of the Forest and Photos presenting more than 70 artworks was on show at the Sharjah Art Museum, United Arab Emirates.

[11] In September 2018, Elmur took part in a group show with Kamala Ishaq and Ibrahim El-Salahi at Saatchi Gallery in London, entitled Forests and Spirits: Figurative art from the Khartoum School.