Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has claimed the top spot on ArtReview's prestigious Power 100 list for 2025, marking the first time an artist from the African continent has led the 24th annual ranking of the most influential figures in the contemporary art world. Mahama's groundbreaking achievement reflects his dual role as both a celebrated artist and an innovative creator of artistic infrastructure that supports emerging talent globally.
Mahama gained international recognition over the past decade through his monumental installations featuring jute sacks and textile remnants, particularly leftover materials from Ghana's cocoa industry. These materials are meticulously stitched together by collaborative teams to create massive quilts that the artist drapes over entire buildings, transforming urban landscapes into powerful statements about labor, extraction, and economic exploitation.
What sets Mahama apart is his strategic use of commercial success to build lasting artistic institutions. The artist has been channeling profits from his blue-chip gallery sales into establishing a comprehensive network of cultural institutions in his hometown of Tamale, Ghana. These include the Red Clay Studio, the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA), and Nkrumah Volini, all of which host artist residencies, student projects, children's workshops, and international exhibitions.
This year's Power 100 top ten is notably defined by artists who, like Mahama, are creating their own infrastructure rather than relying on traditional institutional support. Egyptian artist Wael Shawky is curating an art fair, while Singaporean Ho Tzu Nyen is directing a biennial. The list includes numerous other artist-entrepreneurs who have founded residency programs, including Mark Bradford, Yinka Shonibare, and Tracey Emin, or established their own art centers and educational institutions like Wolfgang Tillmans, Theaster Gates, Marina Abramović, Emily Jacir, Dalton Paula, and the RAQS Media Collective.
The trend extends to innovative groups like Forensic Architecture, blaxTARLINES, and Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise, who are fundamentally reimagining how artistic work should be distributed and defining new audiences for contemporary art. Many of these influential figures operate in regions outside traditional centers of commercial, governmental, and philanthropic resources, suggesting a significant shift in global art world dynamics.
The increasing prominence of Gulf States representatives near the top of the list, including Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, and Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, represents another form of ambitious institution building. These cultural leaders are directing enormous financial resources into arts and culture initiatives, simultaneously diversifying their carbon-dependent economies and leveraging the arts to enhance their nations' international reputations.
This geographical shift comes as traditional art power centers including the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom face ongoing culture wars and severe austerity measures. The Gulf region is increasingly becoming a vital platform from which international artists and curators can expand their creative work and reach global audiences.
The current moment reflects broader instability within the museum and gallery ecosystem. Many traditional art centers are experiencing funding and programming stalemates, with alarming closures of mid-level galleries and dramatic profit declines among major commercial galleries. Some regions have reported profit drops of nearly 90 percent according to recent industry reports, forcing significant restructuring across the commercial art market.
In response to these challenges, major art patrons including Miuccia Prada, Bernard Arnault, François Pinault, and Han Nefkens have increasingly bypassed traditional gallery intermediaries, instead providing direct funding to artists through private institutions and production funds. The galleries that remain prominent on ArtReview's list have adapted by expanding beyond simple art sales, with David Zwirner's publishing ventures, Emmanuel Perrotin's pop culture and fashion collaborations, and educational initiatives by Hauser & Wirth, Prateek Raja and Priyanka Raja of Experimenter, and Liza Essers of Goodman Gallery.
The 2025 Power 100 list as a whole addresses urgent contemporary issues including censorship, subjugation, representation, and technology, while examining art's potential role in an increasingly conflict-defined world. The ranking is compiled by approximately 30 international panelists from across the global art world, who propose individuals who have significantly shaped local artistic developments over the past year.
Selection criteria require that each Power 100 member has demonstrably influenced contemporary art creation and presentation, maintained active engagement over the past 12 months, and achieved influence extending beyond local scenes to create international impact. The resulting list captures the art world as a complex social system rather than merely an economic or aesthetic framework, providing a comprehensive portrait of the relationship networks that shaped 2025's artistic landscape.
Since its 2002 founding, ArtReview's Power 100 has established itself as the most recognized and widely circulated annual ranking of contemporary art world influence. Previous list leaders include Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi in 2024, photographer Nan Goldin in 2023, Indonesian collective Ruangrupa in 2022, and ERC-721 representing NFTs in 2021. ArtReview, founded in 1949, operates as one of the world's leading international contemporary art platforms, with flagship publications including ArtReview Asia, Chinese and Japanese language editions, dedicated to expanding contemporary art's global audience and cultural reach.
