Meschac Gaba, LE PAVE’ DANS LA MERE, 1999. Fabric and coins, 220 x 120 cm. Courtesy Collezione 54, Milan.

Ibrahim Mahama was born in 1987 in Tamale, northern Ghana.

His education and artistic research developed in a context marked by profound economic inequalities, a colonial history still visible in infrastructure and exchange systems, and a strong mobility of people and goods.

From the outset, Mahama has oriented his work toward a critical analysis of the material conditions of contemporary society, placing the relationship between the global economy, labor, and collective memory at the center of his practice.

After studying art in Ghana, Mahama quickly established himself on the international scene thanks to his research using recycled materials linked to the circuits of trade and logistics. Jute bags, industrial fabrics, ropes, and objects marked by use become the main elements of a visual language that reflects on the trajectories of goods and the invisible stories of the bodies that handled them. These materials, laden with traces, numbers, and writings, carry with them the stratifications of labor, exploitation, and global circulation.

The jute bag, in particular, takes on a central symbolic value in his work. Used for transporting cocoa, coal, or other goods, it becomes a narrative surface that records passages, exchanges, and crossings. Stitched together in large-scale assemblages, these fabrics are used to cover buildings, public spaces, and monumental architecture, temporarily transforming them into vulnerable, pulsating bodies. The artistic intervention does not erase the materials’ original function, but amplifies it, making visible the connections between economy, history, and urban space.

Mahama’s practice lies somewhere between installation, environmental sculpture, and site-specific intervention. His works are often temporary and engage directly with the context in which they are created, challenging notions of permanence, value, and ownership. Architecture becomes a skin to be penetrated and interrogated, while the artistic gesture is configured as an act of revelation rather than decoration.

In parallel to his artistic production, Mahama is deeply involved in social and educational projects in Ghana. Through the creation of cultural spaces, training centers, and programs to support local communities, the artist extends his practice beyond the object and the exhibition, conceiving art as an infrastructure for exchange, learning, and collective responsibility. This commitment strengthens the ethical dimension of his work, rooting it in a direct relationship with the land and its people.

Since the 2010s, Ibrahim Mahama has exhibited in numerous international institutions and events, establishing himself as one of the most significant voices in contemporary African art. His work is recognized for its ability to intertwine visual strength, conceptual rigor, and political awareness, maintaining a critical stance towards global economic and cultural systems.

Today, Mahama continues to develop a research in which matter, space, and history merge into a powerful and silent language. His works invite the viewer to engage with what usually remains marginalized: invisible labor, the trajectories of commodities, the memories inscribed in objects. In this dialogue between the local and the global, art becomes a tool for rethinking value, time, and shared responsibility.

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