Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama: ‘Power is building structures, not visibility’

At the recently-concluded Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama repurposed detritus of colonial/postcolonial infrastructure to reconstruct his much-discussed Parliament of Ghosts installation.

I had first seen this work at the 2023 Venice Biennale. In Kochi, at the disused Anand Warehouse in Mattancherry, his chamber represented unrealised futures of Ghanaian independence and development: jute bags once used to transport pepper and timber became the walls, while chairs in various sizes and shapes lined up to create, over the course of the sixth edition of KMB, a site for book launches, workshops and public conversations.