Ibrahim Mahama, a Ghanaian artist whose work has appeared in an array of shows ranging from the Bienal de São Paulo to the Venice Biennale, was hospitalized after he was attacked on Saturday in Tamale, Ghana. Mahama alleged that his attackers were part of a special operations police unit known as the Black Maria.
According to Mahama, officers with the unit made their way through a traffic jam and entered a bus that the artist was riding following a visit to a mosque. After a passenger questioned their actions, Mahama began recording the incident on his phone. “They broke into our bus, forced me to open my phone, and deleted the pictures,” Mahama told 3news.com. He has since called the beating that followed a “brutal assault.”
On Monday, Mahama led a press conference to say that he planned to take members of the Black Maria to court. “I don’t think I can even travel for the next month because the last few days I have not even eaten solid food because my lips are all bruised, and three of my teeth are broken, I have sores in my mouth,” Mahama reportedly said, adding that the attack had “put my whole life on hold.”
Ali Adolf Mboridiba, north regional minister of Ghana, subsequently denounced the attack while also saying that he knew of no activity by the Black Maria in the area. “We cannot tolerate this kind of lawlessness in the region, and anyone found culpable will be dealt with,” Mboridiba said.
Mboridiba added, “Ibrahim Mahama is a diplomat, and an attack on him won’t be tolerated.”
The Ghana Police Service also denied that the Black Maria was involved, calling Mahama’s claims “false” in a release announcing an investigation into the attack.
Mahama is one of the most famous contemporary African artists, known both for his own sculptural installations and for his work within Ghana, where he founded the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art, Nkrumah Volini, and Red Clay Studio, three art spaces in Tamale. He topped the ArtReview Power 100 list in 2025, the year that he exhibited a full-size diesel locomotive at the Kunsthalle Wien in Austria as a comment on British colonization during the 19th century.
He has framed the institutions he founded as an effort to expand the art scene in Ghana. “There are brilliant curators, writers, and artists yet to be born,” he told Art in America in 2023. “And it’s important that, when they are, the conditions for art are as wide-open as possible.”
All three of the organizations launched by Mahama signed a statement in which they called the attack “a disturbing act of police brutality.” Also among the signatories was blaxTARLINES, a Kumasi-based artist collective participating in this year’s Venice Biennale; Compound House Gallery, a space in Accra run by adviser Nuna Adisenu-Doe; and the Foundation for Contemporary Art – Ghana.
“Many citizens are routinely subject to various forms of police brutality in Ghana,” the statement said. “We use the incident and the attack on Mr. Mahama, to draw attention to these unprofessional acts by personnel who are mandated to enforce the law and protect the public peace. Abuses like these constitute grave violations of citizens’ rights. Such actions often go unpunished and have the potential to erode public trust in law enforcement.”
Within Ghana, the incident has generated a mixture of scrutiny and empathy. Abla Dfiza Gomashie, the Ghanaian tourism minister, issued a long statement in support of Mahama, writing, “As a nation that prides itself on upholding justice, human rights, and the rule of law, such incidents must be addressed with the seriousness they deserve. It is in view of this that I have held discussions with the Hon. Minister for the Interior, who has assured me of his utmost support in unravelling the people behind this cowardly act.”
