At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Ibrahim Mahama reimagines jute sacks to tell a story of labour and trade

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.