Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama’s first solo exhibition in Scotland draws from an archive of his country’s now-defunct colonial-era railway system prior to liberation in 1957. It transforms its raw material of rusty train tracks, customised leather and formal papers into something that honours those who did the heavy lifting.

Charcoal drawings of men at work are set against a backdrop of papers from the Ghana Industrial Holding Company, resembling murals on repurposed billboards. A series of staged photographs sees a group of men drag a German-built Henschel train along the track. Life-size dioramas of those who worked on the railways are lined up like some large-scale team picture. Photographs of the arms of Mahama’s female studio assistants focus on their tattoos, which themselves depict Ghana’s history. 

The exhibition’s title is drawn from lyrics to a song by Owl John, the solo project by late Frightened Rabbit vocalist Scott Hutchison, who sang how we must ‘have faith that there is consequence in protest songs’. In this sense, Mahama’s large-scale works go beyond documentary, bringing home this hidden history with a weighty form of visual poetry that makes for something monumental.
Ibrahim Mahama: Songs About Roses, Fruitmarket, until 6 October.