Ibrahim Mahama

Dung Bara – The Rider Does Not Know the Ground Is Hot, Hanging Garden, A Full Gourd Does Not Rattle; It Is Only a Partially Filled Gourd Which Rattles Gabli Din Pali - A Full Gourd Does Not Rattle; It Is Only a Partially Filled Gourd Which Rattles

With these works, Ibrahim Mahama asks how we can restore memories we’ve never had before, and how we can use archeology and the scars of history to create new meanings within a landscape. Terracotta pots – everyday objects used to store water in local communities in northern Ghana – are suspended over railway lines. Together with negative forms of pots, they bring out memories of geological forms that frighten the landscape as if new kinds of organic life were emerging. These forms take on different dimensions, almost as if they belonged to the landscape, taking on its sublime colors and textures.
The work is inspired by the formation of rock surfaces, as if they were fossils already within the geological formation; forms scattered across the landscape like dinosaur eggs that bring a new gift of promise. Thus, an object from the last century transports our perception of the world to sixty-five million years ago, when dinosaurs last populated the earth. The local Dagbani symbols designed by Ghanaian artist Professor Yakubu Peligah are like relief sculptures on rock surfaces and open with the visitor a dialogue regarding the sense of time.

Main site:
Dung Bara – The Rider Does Not Know the Ground Is Hot

AlManshiyah Plaza:
Hanging Garden

Harrat Uwayrid:
Gabli Din Pali – A Full Gourd Does Not Rattle; It Is Only a Partially Filled Gourd Which Rattles