Ibrahim Mahama will direct the forthcoming Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts.
Best known for his installations of old jute sacks, repurposed as massive tapestries that often cover entire buildings, the Ghanaian is also well regarded for his support of the art scene in his home country. Using the money gained from selling his work internationally, last year the artist opened Nkrumah Volini, a huge 1960s derelict grain silo in Tamale, in the north, as a cultural centre. It joins two other institutions directed by Mahama, including the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art and Red Clay, a studio complex and cultural hub.
In announcing Mahama’s leadership, Nevenka Šivavec, the CEO of International Centre of Graphic Arts, referred to a shared history between the African and East European countries. Ghana and Yugoslavia were founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) together with Egypt, India and Indonesia in 1961, seeking a path to self-determination beyond both Soviet and western imperialism. As a result, many Yugoslavian architects worked in Ghana during the Cold War period.
Writing in the latest issue of ArtReview, Azu Nwagbogu, notes that similarly ‘Mahama and the institutions he has founded in Ghana offer… regeneration, restitution and repatriation, not necessarily by waiting for a direct return of objects, but of ideas and modern art-history both tangibly and symbolically. His is an exercise in reclaiming the commons that also serves to shift the decolonising paradigm away from Western museums and towards a location-specific, solution-oriented approach.’
The Ljubljana Biennale was founded in 1955 and the thirty-fifth edition will take place in 2023.
