White Cube is pleased to present an online solo exhibition of recent jute sack paintings by Ibrahim Mahama.
In these works, Mahama continues his interrogation of the principle that by engaging with the failures of the past it is possible to ignite new value systems for the future. By so doing, there is the potential to engender economic change that would lead to labor reforms.
Produced in his native Ghana with the help of “collaborators,” the jute sacks from which the paintings are created point to histories of trade and commerce and the personal stories of their handlers, having been used to transport Ghanaian cocoa beans, as well as other food staples and natural fuel.
Mahama has spent the past months in the Northern Region of Ghana conducting research into the recent history of its economy of labor. The artist became fascinated by the weight of the history, embodied by crumbling concrete grain silos built in post-colonial Ghana. Scattered between the ports of Accra, Tema and rural Ghana, these now abandoned structures act as stark reminders of the hope, as well as the failure, experienced by a whole nation post-independence. Mahama acquired one of these silos in Tamale and is transforming the space into a site for the local community, including an exhibition space and educational facilities.
Integral to Mahama’s practice is the notion of the circular economy; this commitment has led him to set-up two multi-disciplinary venues in Northern Ghana. The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) opened in 2019 in Tamale, and recently hosted its second retrospective exhibition as part of a program that celebrates the work of Ghanaian artists. Completed during the recent lockdown, its sister organisation, Red Clay, exists as a vast studio complex and cultural repository for hosting artist residencies, film screenings, lectures and workshops.
Exhibition link: whitecube.viewingrooms.com/viewing-room/53-ibrahim-mahama-letters-from-the-void/