Art is born out of disasters and discomfort – Ibrahim Mahama

Ghanaian artist, Ibrahim Mahama has disclosed that art is not done with comfort and luxury.

According to him, the worst conditions people find themselves in should motivate them to produce exceptional art. He again mentioned to Akosua Hanson of Y 107.9 FM during the ‘Y Lounge’, that if art was luxury, then the rich kids who attended art schools would have been the best in the world.

“Even in the worst conditions that you find yourself in, that should encourage you to make art, art is not done because you are comfortable. If not, then all the rich kids who went to art school would have been the best artists in the world, but that’s not so. Art sometimes is born out of pain. It is born out of crises, it is born out of disaster,” he said.

Speaking on the Ghanaian perception of artists that travelling abroad helps them succeed, Ibrahim Mahama described that as a myth. Countering that he had become successful from remaining in the country.

“It’s a myth that you have to travel abroad to succeed as an artist, I have been here and I have made international exhibitions,” he added.

Ibrahim Mahama encouraged artists in Ghana to be proactive and encouraged Ghanaians to appreciate art as part of our culture just as music is appreciated across the country.

Ibrahim Mahama is a Ghanaian author and an artist of monumental installations born in 1987. He obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Sculpture in 2013 and a bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting in 2010 from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He currently lives and works in Tamale, in the Northern part of Ghana, and has established a Plane Art Gallery with an abandoned plane.

By: Caleb Asante Annor