‘art must reflect the times we live in’: ibrahim mahama on his fondation cartier exhibition

from abandoned factories in ghana to his major exhibition in paris, the artist uses repair to rethink how we relate to history, labor, and one another, arguing that what we inherit can become a resource for building something new. thomai tsimpou October 19, 2026 11 min prefer designboom on googleIbrahim Mahama brings Ghanaian industrial histories to paris Ibrahim Mahama has spent years collecting, dismantling, and rebuilding things that could be considered beyond repair. Old trains, airplanes, factory structures, wooden stools, and industrial materials shape a practice that looks at what societies leave behind and what can be done with it. His work is rooted in northern Ghana, where the history of colonial exploitation continues to shape the region, but his questions reach far beyond it: who gets to shape the future, what do we do with the past, and how can art create something useful for the people around it? These questions come together in The Harvest Season, Mahama’s major exhibition at Fondation Cartier in Paris, on view from October 22nd, 2026, to February 28th, 2027.