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When The Sky Split Open: SOLO SHOW by Ibrahim Bemba Kébé

Past exhibition
17 May - 1 August 2025
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Overview
When The Sky Split Open, SOLO SHOW by Ibrahim Bemba Kébé

 “When The Sky Split Open”  is the first solo exhibition — and simultaneously the international debut — of the young Malian artist Ibrahim Bemba Kébé.

 

In a time marked by crises of belonging, spiritual fracture, and a deep yearning for re-rooting, Ibrahim Bemba Kébé unveils a body of fourteen entirely new works, all created throughout 2025. Together, they construct a speculative cosmogony in which body, gesture, memory, and symbol are interwoven to form a visual grammar of rare intensity.

 
The title of the exhibition suggests an ontological rupture — the opening of a spatiotemporal field where the visible and the invisible, the sacred and the political, heritage and imagination confront one another not as opposites, but as complementary forces.
 
The poetic dimension of Ibrahim Bemba Kébé’s work arises from matter itself: burlap, lace, repurposed fabrics, cowrie shells, wood, and pigments constitute the tactile lexicon of a language that reveals itself as both intimate and ancestral.
 
From a technical standpoint, his practice is grounded in a hybrid approach that merges low-relief painting with textile installation. It draws upon the aesthetic traditions of West Africa — with particular emphasis on Soninke, Bambara, and Mandinka iconographies — while firmly rejecting all forms of folklorisation or exoticist aestheticisation. Instead, Kébé inscribes his gesture within a spiritual and critical lineage in which the artwork becomes a medium of listening, mediation, and transmission.
 
Kébé is a builder of bridges between times and worlds. His visual universe articulates a profound cultural and spiritual heritage with a radical contemporaneity, forming a synthesis wherein the ritual gesture projects itself into the future without forsaking the resonances of the past. He proposes a path toward rethinking the place of the sacred and the modes of transmitting knowledge within postcolonial societies. Between the weight of memory and the urgency of an inhabitable future, Kébé reaffirms the dignity of creation as a gesture of listening, resistance, and emancipation.
 
When The Sky Split Open  unfolds as an epiphany — a space of suspension and rite, where the murmur of what insists on remaining may still be heard. A space where, perhaps, the sky continues to split — allowing us to listen for that which has not yet been named.
CATALOGUE
Works
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé Silent Covenant, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 204 x 150 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    Silent Covenant, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    204 x 150 cm
    Sold
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé Whisper of the Sky, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 175 x 78 + 161 x 74 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    Whisper of the Sky, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    175 x 78 + 161 x 74 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé San Kaaba Saga - When the sky split Open, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 198 x 150 cm + 198 x 150 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    San Kaaba Saga - When the sky split Open, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    198 x 150 cm + 198 x 150 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé The Voice of Stars, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 171 x 156 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    The Voice of Stars, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    171 x 156 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé Caged Mind, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 173 x 153 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    Caged Mind, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    173 x 153 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé Seated Spirits, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 175 x 146 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    Seated Spirits, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    175 x 146 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé The Awakening of Mandingo Blood, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 175 x 132 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    The Awakening of Mandingo Blood, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    175 x 132 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé The Awakening Path, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 168 x 144 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    The Awakening Path, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    168 x 144 cm
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé Whispered Ascent , 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 225 x 158 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    Whispered Ascent , 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    225 x 158 cm
    Sold
  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé Guardian of Elevation, 2025 Mixed media / acrylic on burlap 230 x 213 cm
    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé
    Guardian of Elevation, 2025
    Mixed media / acrylic on burlap
    230 x 213 cm
    Sold
Installation Views
  • Dsc04257
  • Dsc04240
  • Dsc04254
  • Dsc04239
  • Dsc04249
  • Dsc04259
Videos
  • When the Sky Split Open

    When the Sky Split Open

    Solo Show by Ibrahim Bemba Kébé THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE Gallery presents “When the Sky Split Open”, the first solo exhibition — and simultaneously the international debut — of the young Malian artist Ibrahim... Read more
Related content
  • When the Sky Split Open Videos

    When the Sky Split Open

    Solo Show by Ibrahim Bemba Kébé 15 July 2025
    THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE Gallery presents “When the Sky Split Open”, the first solo exhibition — and simultaneously the international debut — of...
    Read more

Related artist

  • Ibrahim Bemba Kébé

    Ibrahim Bemba Kébé

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