Ibrahim Mahama (artist)

Ibrahim Mahama
Born	1987 (age 37–38) Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana
Education	Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Occupation	Artist

Ibrahim Mahama (born 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.

Red Clay Studio.

Shine a Light, 2022. Installation view at Sharjah Biennial 2023 at Al Dhaid

Red Clay Studio.

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.

Porta Venezia covered by old jute sacks.

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]

Personal life

Mahama is married to Khadija Yussif Iddi. The pair got married in July 2023 at a private ceremony in Tamale.[12]

Solo exhibitions

Exhibition	Year	Location	Country
Garden of scarcity[13]	2022	De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam	Netherlands
Lazarus[14]	2021	White Cube	United Kingdom
Fragments[15]	2017	White Cube	United Kingdom
Material Effects	2015	Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University	United States
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

• Casavecchia, Barbara (2 March 2018). "'In Dependence': Ibrahim Mahama's Monuments to the Anonymous". frieze. No. 194. ISSN 0962-0672.
• Freeman, Nate (31 March 2016). "Jute-Sack Case Heats Up: Ibrahim Mahama Countersues Simchowitz, Ellis King". ARTnews. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
• Freemantle, Julia (16 February 2019). "Ghana's Ibrahim Mahama drapes huge buildings in recycled hessian sacks". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
• Kinsella, Eileen; Halperin, Julia (29 April 2019). "Flags Can Be 'a Symbol of Oppression': Artist Ibrahim Mahama on Why He Replaced 50 National Flags at Rockefeller Center". Artnet News. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
• O'Toole, Sean. "Ibrahim Mahama at daadgalerie". frieze. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
• Obuobi, Sharon (November 2018). "Conversation with Ibrahim Mahama". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. 2018 (42–43): 284–289. doi:10.1215/10757163-7185941. ISSN 1075-7163.
• Powhida, William; Sawon, Magdalena (25 September 2015). "Artists Are Not Kale: A Gallery Management Guide's Many Failures". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
• Rea, Naomi (30 January 2018). "Belgium Has a Racist Monuments Problem Too—Here's How They're Dealing With It". Artnet News. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
• Ruiz, Cristina (28 February 2017). "Ibrahim Mahama presents a portrait of Ghana told through its objects". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
• Ruiz, Cristina (17 June 2016). "The art of Ghana". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
• Shaw, Anny (6 December 2017). "Early sale in Miami: Martin Margulies buys Ibrahim Mahama's installation". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

References

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

External links

• Profile on the White Cube site