Ibrahim Mahama Wins Art Basel Gold Award, Unveils Münsterplatz Commission
Ibrahim Mahama, winner of the inaugural Art Basel Gold Award in the established artists category, has unveiled a new public commission on Basel's Münsterplatz. Titled The God of Small Things after Arundhati Roy's novel, the work consists of large-scale textile pieces patchworked from batakari robes, rubber tyres, and long-haul transport canvases. Mahama also received the 2026 Arnold Bode Prize in Kassel and topped the 2025 ArtReview Power 100. In March, he suffered a physical assault allegedly by Ghanaian police, which halted his international travel. His Tamale studio involves a collective of collaborators and regularly hosts schoolchildren. The commission uses materials charged with global circulation history, including tyres from a post-independence Ghanaian company abandoned after Kwame Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966.
Key facts
- Ibrahim Mahama won the inaugural Art Basel Gold Award in the established artists category.
- He unveiled a new public commission titled The God of Small Things on Münsterplatz in Basel.
- The work uses batakari robes, rubber tyres, and long-haul transport canvases.
- Mahama also received the 2026 Arnold Bode Prize in Kassel.
- He topped the 2025 ArtReview Power 100.
- In March 2026, he was physically assaulted allegedly by Ghanaian police.
- His studio in Tamale, northern Ghana, involves a collective of collaborators.
- The tyres come from a company abandoned after Kwame Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966.
Entities
Artists
- Ibrahim Mahama
- Theaster Gates
- Martin Luther King
- Nina Simone
- Arundhati Roy
Institutions
- Art Basel
- ArtReview
- APALAZZOGALLERY
- White Cube
- Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
- The Art Newspaper
Locations
- Basel
- Switzerland
- Münsterplatz
- Kassel
- Germany
- Tamale
- Ghana
- Kumasi
- Elmina Castle
- Venice
- Italy
- Europe