Ibrahim Mahama to direct 2023 Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama will curate the thirty-fifth Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts in 2023. The biennial was established in 1955. Mahama is recognized for his large-scale installations using repurposed jute sacks that envelop architectural structures. He also founded Nkrumah Volini, a cultural center housed in a 1960s grain silo in Tamale, Ghana. This joins his other institutional projects: the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art and the Red Clay studio complex. Nevenka Šivavec, CEO of the International Centre of Graphic Arts, highlighted historical ties between Ghana and Yugoslavia as founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. During the Cold War, Yugoslav architects frequently worked in Ghana. In ArtReview, Azu Nwagbogu observed that Mahama's initiatives promote regeneration and a decolonial approach through idea exchange rather than object repatriation. Mahama's international art sales fund his cultural infrastructure projects in northern Ghana.