Ibrahim Mahama
Born1987 (age 36–37)
Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana
EducationKwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
OccupationArtist

Ibrahim Mahama (born in 1987) is a Ghanaian artist[1] of monumental installations.[2][3] He lives and works in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale, Ghana.[4] He is the founder of Red Clay Studio, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Arts and Nkrumah Volini.

Education

He obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Sculpture in 2013 and a bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting in 2010 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.[1]

Career

Mahama's installation on a German castle.
Ibrahim Mahama

He often works with found objects by transforming them in his practice and giving them new meanings. Mahama is best known for draping buildings in old jute sacks which he stitches together with a team of collaborators to create patchwork quilts. He was the youngest artist featured in the Ghana Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. His work was shown during the 56th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in Italy All The World’s Futures curated by Okwui Enwezor in 2015.[4]

Mahama shows his works in Ghanaian markets, as well as galleries. This is intended to provide a critical reflection on the value system inherent to his materials.[2] He is also a painter and sculptor.

In 2013, Stefan Simchowitz, along with Dublin gallerist Ellis King, sued Mahama. Mahama had been paid by the dealers, but refused to authenticate derivative works they produced from Mahama's installations of Ghanaian coal sacks. In 2016, Simchowitz settled with Mahama.[5][6]

In 2019, he started the Savannah Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Tamale.[7] Mahama also repurposed 120 scratched second-class train seats through a parliament he calls the "parliament of ghost", a replica of Ghana's parliament chamber. The parliament of ghost was installed at the Whitworth Art gallery in Manchester.[8]

Mahama's work was exhibited at Artspace for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney in 2020.[9]

As part of his contribution to the development of Africa through art,[10] Mahama was named the 73rd most influential African by theafricareport.com in the list of 100 most influential Africans 2019/2020[11]

Solo exhibitions

EXHIBITION YEAR LOCATION COUNTRY
Garden of scars[12] 2022 De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam NL
Lazarus[13] 2021 White Cube UK
Fragments[14] 2017 White Cube UK
Material Effects 2015 Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University USA
Civil Occupation 2014 Ellis King, Dublin IRELAND
Kawokudi Coal Sack Installation, Accra, Ghana

Nima Coal Sack Installation, Accra, Ghana

Adum Coal Sack Installation, Kumasi, Ghana

Jute, What Is Art?

 2013 Accra

Accra

Railway Station, Kumasi

K.N.U.S.T Museum, Kumasi

 GHANA

Sisala Coal Market, Coal Sack Installation

Trading Identities, Installation

2012

Newtown, Accra

MFA Block, Kumasi

GHANA
The colonized body, Installation 2011 Kokomlemle, Accra GHANA
Class and Identity, Installation, K.N.U.S.T, Kumasi, Ghana 2010 K.N.U.S.T, Kumasi GHANA
Purity? Cultures of display, Installation 2009 Bomso, Kumasi GHANA

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 "5 Contemporary Artists in Ghana". AsiwomeWrites.Com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Ibrahim Mahama", Contemporary And (C&).
  3. ↑ "Ibrahim Mahama - 'A Friend' - Milan | My Art Guides". myartguides.com. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  4. ↑ Cascone, Sarah (11 May 2016). "Stefan Simchowitz Settles Lawsuit with Artist". Artnet News. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  5. ↑ Shaw, Anny (11 May 2016). "Stefan Simchowitz settles bitter legal case with Ibrahim Mahama". www.theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) | Contemporary And". contemporaryand.com (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  7. ↑ Youngs, Ian (9 July 2019). "The artist building a parliament with train seats". BBC News. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  8. ↑ "Ibrahim Mahama". Biennale of Sydney. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  9. ↑ Hamelo, Gameli (7 June 2023). "Three Institutions Redefining Art in Tamale". frieze magazine.
  10. ↑ "The 100 most influential Africans (71-80)". The Africa Report.com. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  11. ↑ "Ibrahim Mahama – Garden of Scars". oudekerk.nl. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  12. ↑ "Ibrahim Mahama – Lazarus – White Cube". whitecube.com. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  13. ↑ "Ibrahim Mahama – Artist's Profile – The Saatchi Gallery". saatchigallery.com. Retrieved 6 July 2019.

Profile on the White Cube site

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