Ibrahim Mahama

With the exhibition Vanishing Points 2014 – 2020 at REITER, the Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama (*1987) has his first solo show in a German gallery. For his large, site-specific installation, the artist has arranged a hundred old wheelbarrows, which he collected from workers in Ghana, giving them new ones in return. The rusty, worn wheelbarrows bear the obvious marks of daily hard labour and can be understood as a symbol of that. They also represent the construction that manifests in architecture throughout the history of the artist’s homeland.

At the same time the work can also be regarded in the context of his project Parliament of Ghosts, which was on display in Tamale, Ghana, in 2020. It is a forum for debate that also continues with the idea of social sculpture.

Both projects in Tamale and Leipzig are documented in the book.

Published to accompany the exhibition Vanishing Points 2014 - 2020, from 5 June-11 September 2021 at R E I T E R | Leipzig.