Works by Ibrahim Mahama Acquired by the Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund at Frieze 2022
Photographs by the Ghanian artist will enter the collection of the Norwich Castle Museum
Photographs by the Ghanian artist will enter the collection of the Norwich Castle Museum
Eight photographic C-prints by Ibrahim Mahama that consider the internal migration of workers in Ghana and the extractive mining industry in the South of the country have been acquired by the Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund at Frieze. Purchased from White Cube at Frieze London 2022, the suite of photographs will enter the collection at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery.
About Ibrahim Mahama
Ibrahim Mahama explores themes of commodity, migration, and globalisation. His work is alert to the impact movement can have on the local environment as well as concerns around land-use change, and social unrest. The photographic C-prints, all from 2019, depict the tattooed arms of long-term collaborators Mahama has worked with in Ghana. Some are overlaid on historic colonial maps of key locations, cities, and villages across the country. Others are photographed against decaying leather train seats, salvaged from the Gold Coast Railway. Tattooing family names or locations of birth on forearms is a common practice throughout rural Ghana, due to a lack of basic identification papers like birth certificates or driver licences.
About the Contemporary Art Society's Collection's Fund at Frieze
The Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund is designed to support the acquisition of significant contemporary works for Contemporary Art Society Museum Members across the UK. This year CAS has selected Norwich Castle Museum as the recipient of the Collections Fund at Frieze 2022. The work selected will explore issues of Climate Change and its impact on the environment and the movements of human populations. A key aim of the scheme is to draw together the knowledge, experience and expertise of private collectors with that of museum curators in a programme of research leading to an acquisition, which in turn can influence and ignite future collecting policy.
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