Mahama rebuilds Ghana bottle plant in Paris for art of reclamation — SkimNews
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- Ibrahim Mahama rebuilt a rusted bottle factory from Ghana inside Paris’s Fondation Cartier, using its steel beams and thousands of green bottles to symbolize West Africa’s industrial past and post-independence commerce.
- Ibrahim Mahama centered the exhibition on collective action, prioritizing works by nine other artists and collectives from Ghana, including mentors and collaborators, over his own.
- Dorothy Akpene Amenuke contributed a long jute and bark scroll displayed on the top floor, a material and method echoing Mahama’s own work and reflecting shared artistic lineage from her time as his teacher in 2013.
- Courage Dzidula Kpodo constructed a wall from red earth clay at the exhibition, reviving a traditional building technique displaced by modernist concrete and positioning it as an act of cultural resistance.
- Congolese Plantation Workers Art League (CATPC) presented chocolate sculptures made in the DRC and molded in Amsterdam, with proceeds funding land reclamation from Unilever’s predecessor, turning art into direct economic reparation.
- James Barnor exhibited large-format, grainy Polaroids capturing communities around Mahama, linking personal and historical narratives through decades of West African social life.
- Gideon Appah displayed dream-like paintings of fictional Ghanaian youths on beaches, imagining utopian visions of the nation’s past and future through surreal, idealized landscapes.
Why it matters: The exhibition shifts the narrative of African art from individual authorship to collective resilience, using material history and reclaimed traditions to challenge colonial legacies. By directing attention and resources to lesser-known artists and communities, Mahama reframes cultural value and ownership—making the show itself an act of political and economic reparation, not just aesthetic display.
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