Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has been awarded the inaugural Sam Gilliam Award, a new honor presented by the Dia Art Foundation and the Sam Gilliam Foundation. The award, which includes a $75,000 gift and a public program at a Dia location in fall 2024, was established in 2023 to support artists who have made a significant contribution in any medium. This partnership follows Dia’s presentation of Sam Gilliam’s work from 2019 to 2022.
Born in 1987 in Tamale, Ghana, Mahama is known for his large-scale textile and found-object installations, repurposing materials to encourage reflection on the social implications of everyday objects. His work also emphasizes the importance of community collaboration.
“I was first introduced to Gilliam’s important work as a student by my mentor Kąrî’kạchä Seid’ou, and it has been greatly influential to me ever since,” said Mahama in a statement. “The most important aspect of any community is to share their many gifts, even if they are born out of precarity, for within that point do we expand freedom to all life forms.”
In recent years, Mahama’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions across Europe, including the Oude Kerk Amsterdam (2022), and the Kunsthalle Osnabrück in Germany. His upcoming commission at the Barbican Centre in London will open in April 2024, followed closely by a solo exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.
