In-Between the World and Dreams

Engaging with the Arts in a Public Space IN-BETWEEN THE WORLD AND DREAMS

For several weeks during the 2020 fall semester, staff at the Institute for the Humanities spent hours stitching together hundreds of large jute sacks under the direction of artist-in-residence Ibrahim Mahama.

Installed in early September, the resulting massive, quilt-like panels were used to cover 4,452 square feet of the exterior of the U-M Museum of Art to create one of the spectacular architectural interventions Mahama is known for.

It was an exhibition of firsts. It was the first time that the artist, who has been connecting with staff via Zoom appointments and phone calls from his home in Ghana, was not on site to install his exhibition or see it in person. He performed his traditional artist-in-residence duties from afar as well, which included teaching a virtual class and participating in virtual events.

The project also marked the first outdoor exhibition of Mahama’s work in the United States. It was part of a multi-venue presentation that also included an installation at the U-M Institute for the Humanities Gallery that could be viewed (and heard) from a sidewalk window, as well as an installation inside the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.

Amanda Krugliak, curator of the Institute for the Humanities Gallery, started planning for an exhibition with Mahama during his trip to Ann Arbor as a 2019 Penny Stamps Speaker series presenter. They pivoted planning for the project after Michigan’s stay-at-home orders were announced earlier that year.

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Mahama couldn’t be in Ann Arbor for the installation as originally planned, but decided to move forward with the help of Krugliak and other collaborators at the Institute.

“When plans shifted in March, we did not know if he’d be able to be here, so this entire project involved a great deal of trust from the artist, and we’re grateful that he worked with all of us to make this happen,” Krugliak said. “It is really significant that we did this in a moment when everything seemed impossible—and when we were going through a series of crises.

“I believe that this piece in particular acknowledges this in a very public way that the Institute, museum and university are committed to racial equity and the value of labor and what can be accomplished together, even with our challenges.” Mahama creates public art by repurposing materials to explore themes of commodity, migration, globalization and economic exchange. In-Between the World and Dreams, the title of the exhibition that was spelled out in neon lights as part of the exterior installation, incorporated jute sacks—synonymous with the trade markets of Ghana where he lives and works—as a raw material.

For his U-M installations, which took six months to plan and dozens of hours of measuring and sewing on site, he incorporated materials from his prior seminal works over the last decade that served as a retrospective. They were shipped to Ann Arbor from Los Angeles, New York and Venice, Italy.

Mahama generally works collaboratively with his community to complete the extensive sewing of the sacks required in preparation for his projects—a process he entrusted to Krugliak and her small team at the Institute who worked in observance of COVID-19 protocols and social distancing guidelines. Mahama’s artistic practice illustrates, as he explains, how art education, art and cultural opportunities “allow for people to find new ways to acquire knowledge, not only of themselves, but their histories and the places and spaces in which they find themselves.”

Enveloping the contours of a museum building or wall, the blankets of jute fibers are meant to contrast with the monumentality of the institutional buildings and spaces they cover, becoming remnants and traces that reference the hands of laborers, the imprints of colonialism and the interference of Britain and the U.S. in Ghanaian history.

In-Between the World and Dreams was responsive to the moment and offered students and the broader community the opportunity to engage with the arts in a public space at a time when gatherings inside buildings and museums were limited. “In a pivotal year defined by COVID-19, worldwide protests in support of Black Lives Matter, climate change and our U.S. presidential election in the balance, Ibrahim Mahama’s work offered a visual opportunity to witness and reflect—it was both personal and universal, global and close to home,” Krugliak said.

“The work exemplified our deep connections and responsibilities to one another, interwoven, and the potential for empowerment through the arts. It acknowledged troubling past histories while, at the same time, offering hopefulness towards building new futures together.”

This exhibition was supported by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.