Three Little Birds
2023
Relief mural, fiberglass
Ibrahim Mahama produces installations that delve into themes of globalization, labor, and the movement of goods, frequently developed in partnership with Ghanaian communities. The works exhibited at Palazzo Diedo focus on the themes of railways and trains, with a particular emphasis on Ghana’s colonial past.
Three Little Birds is a permanent work created by Mahama in his community in Ghana at the Red Clay Foundation, launched in 2019 by a group of artists and curators to promote local economic, social, and cultural development, with the goal of making the population active and economically self-sufficient. The work is inspired by the visual materials surrounding the artist’s studio at Red Clay: people interacting with elements of the railway line create creative platforms, which serve the artist to investigate the relationship between the body and history.
Turn Your Lights Down Low
2024
Series of 24 Fine Art photographic prints on Hahnemühle paper
Untitled
2024
Series of C-print photographs on Dibond
The two as-yet unpublished photographic series reflect again on the value and memory of the railway. His collaborators sometimes become the subject of his work themselves, as seen in the photographic series dedicated to his assistants’ arms, showcasing tattoos they had inked with their own names and other personal details due to lack of paper documentation.
