Story; Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria
Just as Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919, perhaps Ibrahim Mahama is the first Ghanaian, the only African and first man to drive a plane from Accra to Tamale, using the Techiman-Tamale Rd/N10 which is a 9 h 59 min (620.8 km) via N6 drive
It is not every day you see aircraft been moved on our road on regular bases from Accra to Tamale. last week, Ghanaian International artist, Ibrahim Mahama moved aircraft on the road from Accra to Tamale to his new site at Janapeing, in Tamale, northern region.
To transport the aircraft from Accra to Tamale, Ibrahim Mahama had to involve the police, VRA, NedCo, Road safety and engineers. He involves all these people because he believes that an artist should be responsible for the environment, they work in.
The planes are old one which is no longer in use and you can trace its origin to the second world war, Russian planes and others. The seats from the planes are going to be used for the cinema while the plane body will be used as classrooms for kids.
‘ Ibrahim Mahama
The idea of Ibrahim Mahama bringing this old junk to Tamale is to give kids who are unable to use the plane in their lives a chance to have a feel how inside look like.
He wants to use this project to expose kids to early art to inform them of the kinds of art that exist and how their environment can influence the kind of art they do. It also gives a chance to kids who wants to become a pilot in the future the chance to see the interior of the plane.
At the end of it, all these junks shall be used as classrooms to teach kids art at a very young age.
This he hopes to inspire the next generation of artists to see their immediate environment as a source of inspiration for their artwork.
Ibrahim Mahama is noted for using junk to create art. For instance, he used old train seats and Ghana Parliament old seats to create ‘A Ghost Parliament in Manchester.
