Ibrahim Mahama

The groundbreaking Ghanaian artist and cultural operator Ibrahim Mahama joins Phaidon’s celebrated Contemporary Artists’ Series, the longest running series of contemporary art monographs published today

Ibrahim Mahama is an artist and educator best known for creating monumental installations involving draping buildings in old jute sacks that have been stitched together to create patchwork quilts and his sculptures, which combine found objects, archival notes, photographs, and colonial era maps.

Mahama has described his art as a form of time-travelling – an exercise where abandoned documents and items from the past can resonate with the present and lay the foundation for a better future. In doing so, he addresses topical sociopolitical issues such as global trade, migration, inequality, and commodification.

In 2019, Mahama opened the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art in his native Tamale – a 900-square meter multidisciplinary building functioning as a space for artist residencies and an exhibition venue.

This is the first monograph dedicated to the multifaceted practice of the artist. The latest addition to Phaidon’s celebrated Contemporary Artists Series, the book is also a companion to Mahama’s maiden US institutional show at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Ibrahim Mahama makes materials carry stories. A simple sack, a piece of railway metal, or an abandoned structure becomes a way to talk about history, identity, work, and the forces that shape society. This timely monograph will be essential reading to all those interested in the power of contemporary art to be a catalyst for societal change.