When Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama landed in Kochi last month, he wasn’t entirely sure what shape his work would take at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, even though India was already woven into his practice, quite literally. It was woven in the form of the jute sacks produced here that he has famously used to wrap entire buildings, from the walls of the Arsenale at the 2015 Venice Biennale to the National Theatre of Ghana in Accra in 2016 and the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland and Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje (North Macedonia) earlier this year.
Wandering through the streets of the port city, he discovered that the familiar material could attain entirely new meanings. Unlike the sacks that travel miles to Ghana — imported by the Ghana Cocoa Board — the ones he encountered here carried the scent of their origin, markings of bureaucratic stamping and stains of the local economies. Torn in places, punctured in others, he got them mended by local women and has now used them to cover entire walls of a room within the Anand Warehouse, where at the centre now stand around 130 second-hand wooden chairs, sourced from across Kerala, and repaired not just by carpenters but also art students from the region with whom he held multiple workshops. “As artists, we’re thinking about art, the commodification of art, but also art beyond the commodification of itself,” says Mahama, adding, “I’m interested in the history of the commodities in relation to the history of the labour attached to the commodities.”
This investigation into material histories and collective labour that has been a core concern of his practice since his student days at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi (Ghana), has brought Mahama both critical recognition and wider influence. Last week, he was at Art Basel Miami Beach to receive the Gold Award (Established Artist) when he was declared the most influential figure in the art world in 2025 on the ArtReview Power 100 list, becoming the first African to top the list. “This has been a year of awards,” he chuckles, before emphasising how the honour also signals a wider shift in how artistic voices from the global south are finally being understood and valued on their own terms. “For decades, African artists and curators have done extraordinary work, often without institutional support or acknowledgment. Curators like Okwui Enwezor, Chika Okeke-Agulu, the late Koyo Kouoh, Gabi Ngcobo, Smooth Nzewi and my good friend Osei Bonsu have been working tirelessly across institutions to articulate the depth of artistic practice emerging from the African continent… Finally, now, things are changing,” he adds.
Ibrahim Mahama’s work at 35th São Paulo Biennial (Courtesy at Levi Fanan Fundação Bienal de São Paulo)
His own rising visibility and scale of projects are testament, and the recent months are only an indicator. If in April he opened his solo at the Kunsthalle Bern, in July for his solo “Zilijifa” at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, he deconstructed, transported and exhibited a diesel locomotive — one of several British and German-built trains he has acquired since 2022 as remnants of the Ghanaian railway network established under British colonial rule in the late 19th century. In Skopje in October, the month saw another iteration of the Kochi work titled Parliament of Ghosts open at Ibraaz’s new cultural space in London — there, Mahama ceremonially arranged 75 chairs with fabric and leather cushions, shipped from Ghana, in the setting of a Majlis, while jute sacks fill the shelves around it, invoking histories of trade, labour and economic power. Last month, he also took a short trip from Kochi to Phuket to install his work at the Thailand Biennale.
But beyond the White Cube, museums and other international forums, a large part of his practise also involves building infrastructure for art — through his very works, engagement with local communities wherever he exhibits, and also closer home initiatives in Tamale, where he born in 1987 and grew up before attending several of Ghana’s boarding schools. He has built three institutions in the northern Ghana city to foster contemporary art, research, art education and community learning. This includes Red Clay Studio, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) as well as Nkrumah Volini, which is built within a renovated food silo constructed by Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah. Mahama bought the structure from the government during Covid to save it from demolition, discovering inside a forgotten ecosystem of sand, stagnant water and hundreds of bats. Now, it serves as an art institution that explores archeological memories and future forms. “Every artist wants to be able to earn a living from their work, but the idea is not to make you rich. It is also about redistributing and rechannelling the funds to create alternative systems,” states Mahama. He still holds on to a lesson his professor once shared: “Art is not so much about what you produce, but about the relationships that are created in the process.” Much of his practice is anchored on that belief.
Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice.
With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India.
Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale.
She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters.
Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory.
The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions.
Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović).
Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers.
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India:
1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival
"At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors.
"Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers.
"At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025).
"Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention.
2. M.F. Husain & Modernism
"Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum.
"Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025).
3. Art Market & Records
"Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million.
"All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025).
"What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork.
4. Art Education & History
"Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025).
"A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art.
Signature Beats
Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More
Ibrahim Mahama’s work at 35th São Paulo Biennial (Courtesy at Levi Fanan Fundação Bienal de São Paulo)
