Installation views of the Parliament of Ghosts at Whitworth Art Gallery as part of the Manchester International Festival 2019

Ibrahim Mahama

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Installation views of the Parliament of Ghosts at Whitworth Art Gallery as part of the Manchester International Festival 2019
Installation views of the Parliament of Ghosts at Whitworth Art Gallery as part of the Manchester International Festival 2019
Untitled (detail), 2018. Used jute sacks, aluminium seals, painted advertising banner. 370 x 630 cm
Untitled (detail), 2018. Used jute sacks, aluminium seals, painted advertising banner. 370 x 630 cm
Untitled, 2018. Used jute sacks, aluminium seals, painted advertising banner. 370 x 630 cm
Untitled, 2018. Used jute sacks, aluminium seals, painted advertising banner. 370 x 630 cm
A walk-through of Ibrahim Mahama's installation in the exhibition »Vanishing Points. 2014 - 2020« at REITER | Leipzig in 2021
A walk-through of Ibrahim Mahama's installation in the exhibition »Vanishing Points. 2014 - 2020« at REITER | Leipzig in 2021
Ibrahim Mahama »Check Point Prosfygika 1934-2034« 2016-17. Installation view Syntagma Square, documenta 14. Athens, Greece.
Ibrahim Mahama »Check Point Prosfygika 1934-2034« 2016-17. Installation view Syntagma Square, documenta 14. Athens, Greece.
installation view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig 2021
installation view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig 2021
installation view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig 2021
installation view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig 2021
»A Friend« installation view Caselli Daziari Porta Venezia, Milan 2019
»A Friend« installation view Caselli Daziari Porta Venezia, Milan 2019
Ibrahim Mahama »Check Point Sekondi Loco 1901-2030« 2016-17. Installation view documenta 14 in Kassel
Ibrahim Mahama »Check Point Sekondi Loco 1901-2030« 2016-17. Installation view documenta 14 in Kassel
Ibrahim Mahama »Fracture« 2016. Installation view at Tel Aviv Museum
Ibrahim Mahama »Fracture« 2016. Installation view at Tel Aviv Museum
Ibrahim Mahama »57 Forms of Liberty« High Line, New York City
Ibrahim Mahama »57 Forms of Liberty« High Line, New York City
Ibrahim Mahama »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« installation view REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« installation view REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« installation view REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« installation view REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama »Out of Bounds« 2015, installation view Arsenale, 56. Venice Biennale
Ibrahim Mahama »Out of Bounds« 2015, installation view Arsenale, 56. Venice Biennale
Ibrahim Mahama »Malam Dodoo National Theatre 1992 – 2016« Installation view in Accra, Ghana.
Ibrahim Mahama »Malam Dodoo National Theatre 1992 – 2016« Installation view in Accra, Ghana.
Ibrahim Mahama »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« installation view REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« installation view REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama on his exhibition »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« at REITER | Leipzig 2021
Ibrahim Mahama on his exhibition »Vanishing Points. 2014 – 2020« at REITER | Leipzig 2021
The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Tamale, Ghana
The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Tamale, Ghana
Archival material collected by Ibrahim Mahama in Red Clay, Tamale, Ghana
Archival material collected by Ibrahim Mahama in Red Clay, Tamale, Ghana
Grand opening of the Parliament of Ghosts on 5 September 2020 in Tamale, Ghana
Grand opening of the Parliament of Ghosts on 5 September 2020 in Tamale, Ghana

Ibrahim Mahama info

Ibrahim Mahama is known for shrouding buildings in jute sacks. At least that is how I got to know his work at the major European art exhibitions – at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and at documenta 14 in Kassel in 2017. In Ghana these jute sacks, which are actually produced in Asia, are normally used to store and transport cocoa beans. Once the cocoa has been removed, the sacks are reused as containers for all sorts of goods. Worn, dirty and sometimes printed with details of their contents, Mahama has these sacks sewn together into huge lengths of cloth by a host of collaborators. As immense, over-sized linen sacks they become a type of monumental ‘façade shrouding painting’ but, thanks to the material, livelier and more low-key.
In Ghana, Mahama has shrouded diverse buildings over the years, including a series of modernistic buildings from the expansion phase following Ghana’s independence in 1957: buildings that were frequently planned by architects from socialist countries. In a paradoxical movement these buildings, and the history they embody, are marked and highlighted through the shrouding: giant sacks containing buildings, which in turn house often forgotten or at least no longer visible stories and history. At the same time these buildings are overwritten with the complex economics (and not least their historical dimension) of which these sacks are an expression: from the history of the cacao plantations and the colonial exploitation of raw materials and resources, their reuse and further use, the – expressed in general terms – logistics, trade in goods and life under the regime of global capitalism and its mechanisms of extraction – for Ghana, alongside its west African neighbor Ivory Coast, is the world’s largest cacao producer. However, almost everything is destined for immediate export to the Global North. Of the wealth generated by cacao, almost nothing remains in the country.
(Excerpt from Entry Points, a Text by Dominikus Müller, 2021)

Ibrahim Mahama News

Ibrahim Mahama bio

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 Sharjah Bienniale (2023); 18. Venice Architecture Biennale (2023); Vienna Biennale of Change (2021); 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020); Stellenbosch Triennale (2020); 6th Lubumbashi Biennale, Democratic Republic of the Congo (2019); 58th Venice Biennale (2019); Documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017); 56th Venice Biennale (2015). In 2023, Mahama is curating the 35th International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubliana, Slovenia.
In 2019, he opened the artist-run Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Tamale, Ghana. This was followed by the Red Clay Studios in nearby Janna Kpeŋŋ in 2020 and Nkrumah Volini in 2021. All sites house exhibition spaces and serve as research facilities and centres for artist residencies. They represent Mahama's contribution to the development and expansion of the contemporary art scene in his home country. They also include ongoing educational opportunities for children and young people.