Each year, the Power List published by the London-based magazine ArtReview highlights those who shape the world of contemporary art. Museum leaders, curators, collectors and artists are ranked according to their influence and their ability to transform artistic ecosystems. This year, Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama takes the number one spot. The announcement marks a historic moment: for the first time since the ranking’s creation in 2002, an African has reached its summit. This recognition celebrates not only the creative momentum of Ibrahim Mahama but also his institutional, community-driven and intellectual impact.
A Singular Path and Artistic Language
Born in 1987 in Tamale, northern Ghana, Ibrahim Mahama grew up far from major international art centers. His father, a civil engineer, introduced him early on to industrial materials — an environment that would profoundly shape his practice. While studying at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, he began with painting before moving beyond it to explore reclaimed materials, which would become his signature — transforming the banal into an artistic and memorial gesture.
He first gained recognition through his monumental installations made of used jute sacks. Originally used to transport cocoa and charcoal, these sacks become carriers of social memory. Collected, stitched and assembled by the hundreds, they form immense patchworks draping entire buildings. With Out of Bounds, the work that brought him international attention at the 2015 Venice Biennale, he captured audiences by covering two walls of the Arsenale with jute stamped “Product of Ghana,” confronting viewers with questions of global trade and colonial legacies.
Over time, while jute remains central, Mahama has incorporated other “witness-objects” into his installations. Non-Orientable Nkansa uses shoeshine boxes stacked into a fragile wall, evoking the effects of economic migration. A Grain of Wheat 1918–1945 brings together World War II stretchers covered with African textiles, a metaphor for how global events ripple into distant lives. With Parliament of Ghosts, exhibited in Manchester, he recreated a parliamentary chamber using old colonial-era train seats, embodying post-independence promises. More recently, Purple Hibiscus transformed the brutalist façade of London’s Lakeside Terrace using batakaris — traditional Ghanaian robes — sewn into a pink-and-purple “second skin,” whose vivid contrasts prompt reflection on historical and cultural entanglements.
From one work to the next, Ibrahim Mahama develops a distinctive style, blending aesthetic impact, raw materiality, monumental scale and social memory.
The Recognition of an Engaged Artist
Mahama’s nomination owes as much to his spectacular works as to his institutional and social impact.
His installations rely on collective production: artisans, seamstresses and local technicians take part in gathering and transforming the materials. Purple Hibiscus, for example, mobilized 450 artisans over two months. In this way, fabrication becomes both an artistic gesture and a social act, generating employment and preserving craft skills.
The revenues generated by his works support the development of cultural institutions, reflecting a vision that merges art, community and economic development. Between 2019 and 2021, Mahama opened three centers around Tamale, his hometown, outside traditional art circuits. The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) hosts exhibitions, residencies, conferences and training programs open to the public. The Red Clay Studio provides local and international artists with a creative space, including workshops and studios — some built inside repurposed train wagons and aircraft. Finally, Nkrumah Volini, housed in a rehabilitated grain silo, welcomes local communities for educational programs and participatory activities. These initiatives stimulate not only artistic creation but also education, employment and the rehabilitation of infrastructure in a historically marginalized region.
Through this approach, Ibrahim Mahama embodies a generation of African artists for whom art extends far beyond the object to become a concrete driver of economic and social development. The Power List thus honours not merely an artist, but a societal transformer.
A Symbolic Ranking for Africa
Ibrahim Mahama’s first-place ranking goes beyond individual recognition: it signals a shift in the geocultural balance of the art world. The Power List has long been perceived as dominated by Western institutions. The 2025 ranking marks a turning point, with increased representation of African and Middle Eastern actors in the top 10.
This evolution reflects a broader movement: over the past fifteen years, Africa has gained visibility and influence on the global art scene. Biennials, major exhibitions, auction results and the opening of dedicated wings in leading Western museums — from the Louvre to the MET — all testify to this shift.
By becoming the first African to top the ranking, Ibrahim Mahama underscores that African creativity is no longer merely visible — it is shaping the field. The future of the art world is now being written from Africa as well, with ambition and boldness.
