Ibrahim Mahama

Visual artist Ibrahim Mahama was born in 1987 in Tamale, Ghana. He lives and works in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. His work has appeared in numerous international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Biennale of Sydney, Saatchi Gallery in London, K21 in Dusseldorf, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum in Michigan, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel and many others.

Mahama’s best-known works involve draping entire buildings with a patchwork of reused jute sacks. He repurposes cocoa sacks that he finds in local markets in Ghana. He shows his works in Ghanaian markets as well as galleries. Through his choice of exhibition spaces, his works critically reflect on the value system inherent to these materials.

Represented by the blue-chip London powerhouse gallery White Cube, Mahama uses proceeds from his art practice to initiate and support cultural and educational institutions in Ghana. He is creating ways to keep contemporary African art on the continent. In 2019, he opened the artist-run project space Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Tamale. Later, he opened a vast studio complex, Red Clay, in nearby Janna Kpeŋŋ in 2020. Both sites represent Mahama’s contribution to developing and expanding the contemporary art scene in his home country, encompassing exhibition space, research facilities, and an artist-residency hub. In 2021, Mahama transformed a renovated silo in Tamale into the Nkrumah Volini artistic centre.