Inaugural Sam Gilliam Award recipient Ibrahim Mahama discusses his artistic and community-oriented practice. Deploying patchworks of reused materials in large-scale textile and found-object installations, Mahama transforms built environments and gallery interiors into spaces for critical reflection on the social lives of objects. Collaboration is key to his practice, as materials are collectively gathered, remade, and installed. Furthering a communal approach beyond his installations, Mahama channels proceeds from his work into establishing interdisciplinary institutions in Tamale, Ghana—his hometown—utilizing a circular economy to drive cultural regeneration and social transformation.

Ibrahim Mahama was born in Tamale, Ghana, in 1987. Solo exhibitions include those at Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2019); the High Line, New York (2021); and Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Germany (2023). He has participated in group exhibitions such as the 35th Bienal de São Paulo (2023); 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2023); and 15th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2023). Mahama was the artistic director of the 35th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, Slovenia (2023). In 2024, he opened a major commission at the Barbican Centre, London, and a solo exhibition at Fruitmaket, Edinburgh. Mahama lives in Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale, all in Ghana.