Ibrahim Mahama: Songs about Roses

The first-ever solo exhibition in Scotland of the work of Ibrahim Mahama; an artist critically acclaimed for his evocative large-scale, site-specific installations that speak to the cultural and social effects of post-colonialism and global migration.

Born in Tamale in 1987, Mahama burst onto the international art scene at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 with Out of Bounds, a work that clad the massive outside wall of the Arsenale in jute sacks to make a visually spectacular and thought-provoking installation. This work set the tone for what has become Mahama’s on-going investigation into the life of materials and their dynamic potential – the jute sacks telling a visual history of the narratives of production and trade, and the more human tales embodied within.  

For Fruitmarket, Mahama is making a brand new body of work inspired by the Gallery’s unique physical location, supported on columns above Waverley railway station. This proximity to – and dependence on – the railway is the starting point for large scale drawings, sculpture and installations referencing his own interest in and using material from the now defunct colonial-era railway of Ghana.