International Journal of Art and Art History

Ibrahim Mahama’s Immersive Taxidermies at Play — An Epitaph from a Living-Dead
ka?rî’ka?chä seid’ou

Abstract
Ibrahim Mahama‘s corpus of massive installations in city spaces constitutes a single node in a complex ecology of politically-committed and socially-engaged projects. An expanded social practice of this breadth and depth cannot but oscillate between the dualities of spectacle and participation, if not beyond. Yet this detail has been missed by most art world commentators who focus on the visual spectacle which Mahama‘s installations seem to offer at first glance. Such reductionist interpretations tend to rob the artist‘s work of the nuanced life and social forms embodied in his practice. This three-part paper, with each fragment introduced or concluded by reminiscent African proverbs, meditates on Mahama‘s complex dramaturgy and affirmative social formatting. It is an insider‘s critical perspective written in an epigrammatic and allusive literary style. Its structure reflects the patchwork and archival methods Mahama adopts for his jute sack installations. The paper argues that Mahama‘s projects are epitaphs to precarious labour and disposable life. Thus, they are meditations on the imminent death of populations disposable within the hegemonic Neo-Liberal capitalist framework. Yet these epitaphs or ?immersive taxidermies? are also Mahama‘s means of testing his emancipatory vision for reverse gentrification of encroached commons. As a corollary, Mahama invents a parallel exchange economy channelled through a witty alchemy while combining the mixed economies of the contemporary art market and negotiations with state agents, corporate bodies, private owners, and traditional custodians of land.

Full Text: PDF       DOI: 10.15640/ijaah.v8n1a6