UP Projects

Since 2019, internationally renowned artist Ibrahim Mahama has established three cultural institutions in Tamale, Northern Ghana: the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA); Red Clay, his large-scale studio complex open to the public; and Nkrumah Volini, a centre for cultural and artistic education. 

These institutions have transformed abandoned buildings through community engagement processes  into cultural infrastructure that is free at the point of entry, and enables long term collaborations between citizens and artists.  

Mahama’s personal artistic practice also plays with cultural infrastructure – in the UK, he installed ‘Purple Hibiscus’, in which 2000 square metres of cloth created in collaboration with craftspeople in Tamale enveloped the Barbican’s lakeside terrace. 

You can hear more from Ibrahim Mahama about these projects at our upcoming online Assembly ‘A Right to Determine Value’.  

Alongside spatial justice expert Thomas Aquilina he will explore the artist’s role in building cultural infrastructure.  

🔗 Book now via the link in bio

📷1-5: Red Clay, Photo by Ernest Sackitey, Courtesy Red Clay
📷5-9:  Ibrahim Mahama, Purple Hibiscus, 2023-24, Courtesy Ibrahim Mahama, Red Clay Tamale, Barbican Centre, London and White Cube