Ibrahim Mahama Says He Was Assaulted in Tamale, Ghana, and Plans Legal Action
A weekend incident in Tamale, Ghana, has left one of the country’s most visible contemporary artists hospitalized and preparing to sue. Ibrahim Mahama (b. 1987), whose work has been shown internationally from the Bienal de São Paulo to the Venice Biennale, says he was attacked on Saturday after an encounter with officers he alleges belong to a special operations police unit known as the Black Maria.
In an account given to 3news.com, Mahama said the officers pushed through a traffic jam and boarded a bus he was riding after visiting a mosque. When another passenger questioned why they were entering the vehicle, Mahama began recording the scene on his phone. He said the officers then forced him to unlock the device and deleted the images before the situation escalated into what he later described as a “brutal assault.”
On Monday, Mahama held a press conference in which he said he intends to take members of the Black Maria to court. He described injuries that have disrupted his daily life and professional commitments, saying he has bruising on his lips, three broken teeth, and sores in his mouth. He added that he may not be able to travel for the next month.
Ghanaian officials and law enforcement have issued differing statements in the wake of the allegations. Ali Adolf Mboridiba, the north regional minister, publicly denounced the attack while also saying he was not aware of any Black Maria activity in the area. “We cannot tolerate this kind of lawlessness in the region, and anyone found culpable will be dealt with,” he said, adding that “Ibrahim Mahama is a diplomat, and an attack on him won’t be tolerated.”
The Ghana Police Service, however, denied that the Black Maria was involved, calling Mahama’s claims “false,” and said it was investigating the incident.
The episode has reverberated through Ghana’s art community, where Mahama is not only known for large-scale sculptural installations but also for building cultural infrastructure in Tamale. He founded the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art, Nkrumah Volini, and Red Clay Studio, three organizations that have helped expand opportunities for artists, curators, and writers in the region.
Mahama’s international profile has risen alongside that local work. He topped the ArtReview Power 100 list in 2025, the same year he exhibited a full-size diesel locomotive at Kunsthalle Wien in Austria, a project framed as a meditation on British colonization in the 19th century. In a 2023 interview with Art in America, he described his institution-building as a long-term wager on the future: “There are brilliant curators, writers, and artists yet to be born,” he said. “And it’s important that, when they are, the conditions for art are as wide-open as possible.”
In a joint statement, the three Tamale-based organizations Mahama founded called the incident “a disturbing act of police brutality.” The statement was also signed by blaxTARLINES, the Kumasi-based artist collective participating in this year’s Venice Biennale; Compound House Gallery, an Accra space 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, arguing that abuses by personnel tasked with public safety can violate citizens’ rights and weaken trust in law enforcement.
The incident has also drawn attention from government leaders beyond the north. Abla Dfiza Gomashie, Ghana’s tourism minister, issued a statement supporting Mahama and said she had discussed the matter with the Minister for the Interior, who, she wrote, had pledged support in identifying those responsible.
As investigations and potential legal proceedings move forward, the case is being watched closely in Ghana and abroad, where Mahama’s work and institution-building have made him a bellwether for the country’s contemporary art scene — and, now, a focal point in a broader public debate about accountability and policing.
