Amoako Boafo | 20 July - 30 November 2025 | Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

Amoako Boafo

I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE

Wooyang Art Museum 우양미술관

ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2025

2025년 11월 30일까지 전시됩니다.
Mariane Ibrahim is proud to present I Have Been Here Before, Amoako Boafo’s first institutional solo exhibition in Asia, at the Wooyang Art Museum in South Korea.

Recognized as one of the most influential Black contemporary artists today, Boafo has built a strikingly original portraiture style rooted in personal experience and art historical influence. The exhibition offers a comprehensive view of his artistic journey, seeking to go beyond surface-level depictions of Black identity and instead record, celebrate, and deeply explore the lived experiences and layered identities shaped by historical context.

우양미술관은 가나 출신 작가 아모아코 보아포(Amoako Boafo)의 아시아 최초 미술관 개인전《I Have Been Here Before》를 개최합니다. 현재 가장 주목받는 흑인 예술가 중 한 명인 보아포는 개인적 경험과 미술사적 영향에 기반한 독창적인 화법을 통해 강렬한 존재감을 지닌 초상화 양식을 구축해왔습니다. 이번 전시는 그의 작품 세계를 총체적으로 조망하며, 단순히 피부색으로 표상되는 흑인의 이미지를 넘어, 흑인의 삶을 기록하고 기념하며, 역사적 맥락 속에서 형성된 다양한 개인의 정체성과 복합적인 경험을 깊이 있게 탐구하고자 합니다.

This exhibition consists of four thematic sections, culminating in an architectural installation, Nsaa Pavilion, inspired by the courtyard of a traditional Korean hanok. Co-designed by DeRoche Projects, an architectural practice led by Glenn DeRoche, and the artist, this space acts as a point of intersection between Boafo’s visual language and Korea’s cultural heritage — a site where differing experiences, emotions, and perspectives come into dialogue.

이번 전시는 네 개의 주제별 섹션으로 구성되며, 마지막 공간에는 한옥의 마당에서 영감을 받은 건축 Nsaa Pavilion이 설치되었습니다. 이 공간은 가나 출신 건축가 글렌 드로쉬(Glenn DeRoche)가 이끄는 드로쉬 프로젝트와 작가가 협업하여 설계한 것으로, 보아포의 시각 언어와 한국의 문화유산이 교차하는 장소이자, 서로 다른 경험과 정서, 사고가 소통하는 장이 될 것입니다.

Installation views of Amoako Boafo: I Have Been Here Before, Wooyang Art Museum, South Korea, July 20 – November 30, 2025. Photo by Gyu Taek Han. © Wooyang Art Museum.
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- Amoako Boafo, Gregory, 2019
About the artist:

Amoako Boafo (b. 1984; Accra, Ghana; lives and works in Ghana) is innovative in his approach to the presentation of Black bodies; reframing and realigning their dispositions despite the larger global context surrounding Black culture. Acclaimed for his enticing finger-painted portraits, Boafo’s work has become landmarked in the pictorial subset of art history.

Through striking, often monotone and direct portraits, Boafo engages in an intimate closeness with his subjects. The figures gaze with unwavering firmness as they look to the viewer with stern dispositions. Typically isolated on single color backgrounds, viewers have nowhere to look but at the subjects, leaving little room for misinterpretation. His tableaux vivants  are placed at a high recognition, both physically  regarding  their size and spiritually in terms of their grandeur.
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About the Museum:

Founded in 1991, Wooyang Art Museum is one of Korea’s oldest and most important museums. It has consistently introduced large-scale international exhibitions in cooperation with overseas art institutions and has further steadily presented the exhibitions of major artists, both domestic and foreign, who have taken a historical view of contemporary art and manifested the artistic currents of today well ahead of their time. Additionally, as southeastern Korea’s representative art museum, the Museum has become a central cultural space in the region by presenting not only exhibitions, but also a variety of educational programs and cultural activities in response to diverse cultural demands.

In order to present the variety of possibilities within contemporary art, Wooyang Art Museum has extensively collected paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, and photographs by mid-career and veteran domestic and foreign artists who have played important roles in contemporary art. Further, in addition to introducing exhibitions that showcase the works in its collection in diverse ways, the Museum also presents special exhibitions several times each year. Going forward, Wooyang Art Museum will continue to create a beautiful harmony that achieves a unified landscape of relaxation and contemporary art amid Gyeongju’s prominent cultural heritage and brilliant nature.
About DeRoche Projects:

DeRoche Projects is an Accra-based architecture and design practice working globally to create innovative, community driven spaces. Founded and led by Glenn DeRoche, who brings over 15 years of experience delivering major cultural, civic, and commercial projects, the studio delivers work across various scales, from buildings to objects.

Their work thrives within productive tensions: digital explorations of form meet hands-on making, high-tech precision intersects low-tech ingenuity, and contemporary construction practices meets indigenous building traditions. These complementary forces shape a methodology inherently planet-positive, future-forward, and deeply connected to the layers of place and time.

Sustainability isn’t approached as a checklist; it’s deeply embedded in their design process. Their projects aim to minimize environmental impact and they actively foster ecological and social resilience through regenerative materials, passive design strategies, and resource-conscious construction methods.
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