How Ghana’s Ibrahim Mahama is redefining art

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has reached the pinnacle of the global art world, topping ArtReview’s influential Power 100 list and becoming the first African to do so.

Mahama rose to prominence after his 2015 Venice Biennale installation, which transformed stitched burlap sacks—once used in Ghana’s cocoa trade—into a powerful meditation on labor, colonialism, and global exchange.

Since then, his collaborative, material-driven practice has earned international acclaim and financial success, which he reinvests into building public art institutions in northern Ghana.

Rooted in ideas of collectivity and redistribution shaped by his upbringing, Mahama sees his recognition not as personal triumph, but as part of a broader shift reshaping who defines global art—and why it matters.