Abstract
ABSTRACT Disappearance is an inherent quality of the ‘trace’. A trace, moving within the ambiguous space between absence and presence, refers to some other event connected with it. In this essay, I apply my hybrid model of the trace, derived from the philosophies of Jacques Derrida, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Tim Ingold, in an analysis of the works of Ghanaian artist, Ibrahim Mahama. Mahama’s art responds to traces of failure and disappearance in the urban landscapes of Ghana. Working with materials and spaces in decay, Mahama maps residues of the past embedded in the material, tracing within its narratives of trade, migration, labour, capital, and commodity exploitation. By engaging communities around him in collaborative processes that are often large of scale and presented in public spaces, Mahama recollects memories of labour and exposes extreme histories that inform the present.
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