WEEK 4: Subverting the Art System

Reading: Kąrî’kạchä Seid’ou,‘On Stage-Crafting and State-Crafting Beyond Crisis: Ibrahim Mahama’s Word and Deed’ (African Arts, 2021) 

This essay analyses the work of Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. Each time the artist sells one of his massive sculptures, he uses the project to build community initiatives in Tamale, Ghana. We will discuss the challenge of reconciling this positive effect of Mahama’s work, with the way it simultaneously participates in the radically-elitist global art market.