Ibrahim Mahama: ‘All these things are the stains; they are part of the story’

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama won the inaugural Art Basel Gold Awards in the established artists category and this week unveiled a new public commission on Münsterplatz titled The God of Small Things, referencing Arundhati Roy’s novel. The work extends Mahama’s mending-based practice through large-scale textiles patchworked from batakari robes, rubber tyres, and long-haul transport canvases. The article notes Mahama also received the 2026 Arnold Bode Prize in Kassel and previously ranked first in the 2025 ArtReview Power 100. It also reports that Mahama was physically assaulted in March, allegedly by Ghanaian police, resulting in broken teeth and a pause in his international travel and lecture schedule.

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