Exceptionality comes from thinking outside the box – Ibrahim Mahama

Ghanaian artist and author, Ibrahim Mahama has revealed what inspired him to be an extraordinary artist.

According to him, he was already interested in the arts and wanted to pursue it professionally but was encouraged to think outside the box and be exceptional by his lecturers and mentors.

Ibrahim made this known on Y107.9FM’s ‘Y.Lounge’ with Akosua Hanson when he mentioned,

“When I went to KNUST, I met some professors and mentors who really inspired me to take art seriously because in our traditional art history, with regards to the format of art, it has always been quite skewed in a particular direction. My mentors and I were more interested in the expanding field of art so my colleagues and I were sometimes sent to markets to draw inspiration from what goes on there.”

The artist explained that it was through the interest he had in expanding the field of art which brought about the idea of using jute sacks from market places to create patchwork quilts which he used to drape buildings in other to create a conversation between materials and the spaces people reside.

He revealed that art is not only about painting and making sculptures but how one brings ordinary things together at a particular time to create things. He encouraged young artists to be open-minded and interested in theories since they assist people to look at things beyond the ordinary.

Ibrahim Mahama is an author and artist based in Ghana. He is best known for draping buildings in old jute sacks which he stitches together with a team of collaborators to create patchwork quilts and the owner of Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Tamale.