Ibrahim Mahama (b. 1987, Tamale, Ghana ; lives and works in Tamale and Accra, Ghana)

Voli-ni (2022)
Photo cut outs and archival materials on paper on canvas
295 x 777 cm

Voli-ni literally meaning “inside the hole” in Dagbani, a language local to Northern Ghana. This large-scale collage brings together repeated images of Brutalist architectural structures and bats. Echoing the rhythmic arrangement of the bats hanging in rows from the silo ceilings, the collage creates a lyrical topographical motif. Through its engagement with the legacy of colonial domination and the processes of erasure, defacement and appropriation that accompany it, the collage technique becomes a means of articulating the many tensions and complexities embedded within Ghana’s multifaceted past.
Ibrahim Mahama is one of the most influential voices in contemporary art and the first African artist to top ArtReview’s Power 100. His practice centers on monumental, site-specific installations using materials of labor and trade — jute sacks, timber, and industrial remnants — to explore global economies, colonial histories, and the circulation of goods and people.

His presentation at OFFSCREEN coincides with his major exhibition, Le Temps des récoltes at the Fondation Cartier.
Living and working between Accra and Tamale, Mahama is the founder of the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Red Clay Studio, and Nkrumah Volini. Mahama has exhibited internationally, including at Documenta 14, the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou, and others. He is the recipient of the Prince Claus Award (2020), the Sam Gilliam Award (2024), and the Gold Award at the inaugural Art Basel Awards (2025). His work is held in major public collections worldwide, and he is represented by APALAZZOGALLERY and White Cube.

Founded in 2008 in Palazzo Cigola Fenaroli in Brescia, APALAZZOGALLERY is run by Francesca Migliorati and Chiara Rusconi. The gallery offers an inclusive, multidisciplinary and multicultural programme that supports both established and emerging Italian and international artists. Each project is developed through an in-depth dialogue between the artists and the gallery, resulting in solo or group exhibitions that engage with the space and its architecture in innovative ways. The gallery also facilitates this dialogue by offering artist residencies and promoting artists at art fairs and through international and local curatorial projects. APALAZZOGALLERY represents the following artists: Sonia Boyce, Ann Iren Buan, Edson Chagas, Giorgio Ciam, Raúl de Nieves, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Emkal Eyongakpa, Paolo Gonzato, Ibrahim Mahama, Servane Mary, Eva & Franco Mattes, Jonas Mekas, Olivier Mosset, Lucia Pescador, Marta Pierobon, Nathalie Provosty, Alan Reid, Olympia Scarry, Augustas Serapinas, Larry Stanton, Alexandra Sukhareva, Francesco Vezzoli and Luc Ming Yan.