Ibrahim Mahama

Ibrahim Mahama (b. 1987, Tamale, Ghana) is one of the most influential voices in contemporary art today and the first African artist to top ArtReview’s Power 100. Living and working between Accra and Tamale, his practice is characterised by the use of reused urban material - remnants of wood, paper documents, jute sacks, shoeboxes, school blackboards and old doors - which he manipulates and transforms to explore themes such as the phenomenon of globalisation and migration and the trade in goods.

As Mahama said ‘I am interested in how crisis and failure are absorbed into this material with a strong reference to global transactions and how capitalist structures work.

” In 2019, Mahama opened the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Tamale, a museum space run by a group of artists and curators active in Ghana, followed by the opening of a vast studio complex, Red Clay, in September 2020. Comprising exhibition spaces, research facilities and an artist residency centre, both sites represent Mahama’s contribution to developing and expanding the contemporary art scene in his country. In April 2021, Mahama opened a renovated silo, Nkrumah V olini, in Tamale.

This is the third educational institution he has opened in northern Ghana in the last two years. Mahama’s work has been presented widely in major international institutions and exhibitions. His recent and forthcoming solo exhibitions and major site-specific projects include The God of Small Things, Art Basel, Münsterplatz, Basel, Switzerland (2026); Labyrinths, Museum of Contemporary Art (MAPS), Køge, Denmark (2026); A Shea Garden, Galleria Barovier&Toso, Venice, Italy (2026); Digging Stars, The Pierre Lorinet Collection, Singapore (2026); and The Harvest Season a solo exhibition at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris (2026, forthcoming).

Over the past decade, his work has been the subject of numerous institutional solo presentations, including his first solo exhibition in Vienna at Kunsthalle Wien (2025); Kunsthalle Bern (2025); Fruitmarket, Edinburgh (2024); Mönchehaus Museum Goslar (2024); and Palazzo Diedo, Venice (2024), in conjunction with the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. His recent and forthcoming group exhibitions and international presentations include Saudi Ministry of Culture, Abbazia di San Gregorio, Venice, Italy (2026); Museum V oorlinden, Wassenaar (2025); Zachęta - National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2025); Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2025); TPB Biennial, Phuket (2025); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, North Macedonia (2025). His public art commissions, site-specific installations, and other significant exhibitions include a temporary public commission at the Barbican Centre, London (2023–2024); Desert X AlUla (2024); Kunsthalle Osnabrück (2023); Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023); the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2023); the 35th Bienal de São Paulo (2023); Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2022); Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes (2022); the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2021); the High Line, New York (2021); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020); the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020); University of Michigan Museum of Art (2020); the 58th and 56th Biennale Arte, Venice (2019 and 2015); Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2019); the Whitworth, University of Manchester (2019); Documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel (2017); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2016); and the K.N.U.S.T Museum, Kumasi (2013).

In 2023, Mahama was appointed Artistic Director of the 35th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts. He was named Principal Prince Claus Laureate in 2020, received the inaugural Sam Gilliam Award in 2024, and was honoured with the Gold Award in the Established Artist category at the inaugural Art Basel Awards in 2025. In the same year, the Republic of Ghana granted him a diplomatic passport in recognition of his cultural contributions. Mahama is represented by APALAZZOGALLERY and White Cube.