Voli

Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative Colours of Africa, a collaborative project with Google Arts & Culture, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them.

The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.

Colour:Voli
Country:Ghana

Artwork Rationale:

As an artist moved by architecture, I dig deep within an abandoned food storage building in Tamale, Ghana to uncover how the character, aesthetic and colour of the building has evolved over time.

The food storage building was built in 1960s Ghana and over its lifetime has developed a unique colour-scheme that would not be found anywhere else in the world. We discovered while excavating that dirt was poured into the building periodically, which has resulted in this strange colour developing.

Another interesting factor in the colour history of the building is how light has added to its tones – the colour has developed variable shades where it has been exposed to natural light (sun). It is fascinating to see how colour can be influenced by factors of time, man and nature – in such a way that the final palette is unique to a place and time in history.

Biography

Ibrahim Mahama uses the transformation of materials to explore themes of commodity, migration, globalisation and economic exchange. Often made in collaboration with others, his large-scale installations employ materials gathered from urban environments, such as remnants of wood, or jute sacks which are stitched together and draped over architectural structures. Mahama’s interest in material, process and audience first led him to focus on jute sacks that are synonymous with the trade markets of Ghana where he lives and works. Fabricated in South East Asia, the sacks are imported by the Ghana Cocoa Boards to transport cocoa beans and eventually end up as multi-functional objects, used for the transportation of food, charcoal and other commodities.

‘You find different points of aesthetics within the surface of the sacks’ fabric’, Mahama has said. ‘I am interested in how crisis and failure are absorbed into this material with a strong reference to global transactions and how capitalist structures work.’

A critical feature of the artist’s practice is the process by which he obtains his materials. For Non-Orientable Nkansa, for example, Mahama engaged dozens of collaborators to produce hundreds of ‘shoemaker boxes’. These small wooden objects were made from structural materials found in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, and used to contain tools for polishing and repairing shoes. Bearing the marks of the trade of ‘shoeshine boys’, the boxes also functioned as an improvised drum, pounded to solicit business. Mahama and his collaborators obtained these items through a process of negotiation and exchange. Gathered together in a single, monumental unit, the containers were crammed with other repurposed items such as heels, hammers and needles, all of which are part of Mahama’s ongoing inquiry into the life of materials and their dynamic potential.