Fondation Cartier to Host Ibrahim Mahama’s The Harvest Season Exhibition in October

Ibrahim Mahama, a contemporary artist from Ghana, is set to present one of his most comprehensive projects to date at the Fondation Cartier in October. The exhibition titled The Harvest Season will spread across the entirety of the institution’s new space at Place du Palais Royal, transforming it into a vibrant structure that focuses on production, labor, and practices of shared learning. Mahama’s collective production approach aims to turn the exhibition into a shared experience rather than just a space to be visited.

Shared Histories, Shared Voices

Ibrahim Mahama’s work engages with Ghana’s history from the colonial period to the present day, addressing current issues along the way. Labor, the circulation of goods, debates on restitution, and the economy of shrinking are highlighted in the artist’s productions. His collaborations with local communities in Northern Ghana and the educational centers he has established contribute to a significant network that fosters the development of independent cultural institutions across the African continent.

The exhibition, curated by Mahama, brings together nine artists and collectives from different generations. Photographer James Barnor’s Ever Young Studios, revived in Tamale, transports Ghana’s visual memory from the independence years to the present. Dorothy Akpene Amenuke’s work focusing on jute sacks reveals the stories born out of the everyday use of materials. Gideon Appah reinterprets official narratives of history through paintings inspired by archival images from the independence era. Architect Courage Dzidula Kpodo from the Postbox Ghana collective explores the relationship between architecture and memory through documents from the early years of the young Ghanaian state.

Zohra Opoku’s serigraph works on recycled fabrics convey the artist’s bicultural identity in a personal language. The Congo-based Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs des Plantations Congolaises contributes to the project with productions that see art as a tool for social transformation. Tjaša Rener traces the connections between Ghana and former Yugoslavia through individual stories, while Feda Wardak’s installation focuses on the contemporary effects of industrial infrastructure remnants from the colonial period.

In 2013, Mahama graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and gained international recognition with his installation Out of Bounds at the 56th Venice Biennale. He later participated in Documenta 14 and exhibited his work at institutions like Barbican, Kunsthalle Wien, and the Sharjah Biennial. In 2023, he took on the role of artistic director for the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts. Today, his works can be found in important collections such as the Centre Pompidou, Hammer Museum, and Studio Museum in Harlem.