Ibrahim Mahama (artist)

Ibrahim Mahama (born 1987) is a Ghanaian artist of monumental installations. He lives and works in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale, Ghana. 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.

Career
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.

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. 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.

In 2019, he started the Savannah Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Tamale. 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.

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

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