Ibrahim Mahama's Thought-Provoking 'Garden of Scars' Exhibition in Amsterdam

Garden of Scars is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, held at the Oude Kerk. The installation explores the intertwined histories of Amsterdam and Ghana through sculpture, drawings, sound, and film, using gravestones and domestic objects to represent collective memory and global colonial narratives.

The installation "Garden of Scars" by Ibrahim Mahama, his first solo exhibition in the Netherlands at the Oude Kerk, presented a complex interplay of sculpture, drawings, sound, and film. The work delved into the entangled histories of Amsterdam and Ghana, drawing connections through Mahama's numerous cultural and social projects in Ghana, which focus on creating employment and fostering creative education for local populations. Mahama views the gravestones covering the Oude Kerk's 3000m² floor as a form of collective memory, their eroded surfaces speaking to the passage of time. He likens gravestones to scars on the skin, potent 'teleportation devices' that allow the mind to travel to specific moments in memory. The exhibition featured hundreds of concrete sculptures, cast from gravestones found in both the Oude Kerk and Mahama's home city of Tamale, Ghana. These were interspersed with remnants of domestic objects—such as wooden furniture parts and metal lamps—collected by Mahama from villages in Ghana. These personal, everyday items, symbols of home, also evoked a global colonial history. Additionally, rubber molds made from stones at Ussher Fort in Jamestown, Ghana (a former Dutch fort and prison), were incorporated, appearing fused with the church floor. Some rubber molds were draped over the concrete sculptures, and a white grave and a large cross were visible at the edges of the work. Over 1500 bats, associated with rebirth and wisdom in many non-Western cultures, hung near the church's ceiling. Large charcoal drawings adorned the walls, collectively making visible a shared history and highlighting the global networks connecting Amsterdam and Ghana. Mahama's use of bats originates from his experience in Tamale, where he protected bats living in a silo he purchased, seeing them as co-inhabitants and symbols of transition. Sound installations, consisting of five speakers placed in the baptismal font, offered visitors impressions from Mahama's work process, including sounds of water, labor, conversations about trains acquired for the installation, welding, and birds from sacred sites in Tamale. The sculptural elements and monumental drawings were inspired by rubbings taken from gravestones in the Oude Kerk and from sites in Ghana, including Cape Coast Castle, Fort Prinzenstein Keta, St George's Castle Elmina, and Ussher Fort Accra. The concrete sculptures, formed from Ghanaian soil and incorporating imprints of gravestones and fort elements, represent the geological past and the 'ghosts of a connected history.' The production of these sculptures took place at Mahama's Red Clay studio in Tamale, with the collaboration of over 100 students, artists, and artisans.

Ticketing information for the Oude Kerk is available through an external link, directing visitors to the official ticket purchasing platform. General visitor information and museum opening hours are also provided, suggesting exhibition access is tied to standard museum entry. "Tickets are available via the provided link, and visitors can find general information about visiting the Oude Kerk and its opening hours."