Mariane Ibrahim Takes Mexico City By Storm With a Splendid New Gallery

Mariane Ibrahim is in Mexico City. Her new gallery, at Río Pánuco 36, welcomes us into a space with a romantic Porfiriato façade, located in the Cuauhtemoc neighborhood of the Mexican capital. The large property—her third gallery—combines refined French moldings, eclecticism, and a touch of tropical greenery. Ibrahim’s team is working against the clock on the final details of Clotilde Jiménez’s installation La Memoria del Agua, which combines large-scale collages, some ceramics, and painting.

Ibrahim came to Mexico City to do what she does best: represent contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora within the white spaces of the curatorial world.

Vogue**: What is your hope with this move to Mexico?**

Mariane Ibrahim: I hope to find myself. In [art] we are a bit distanced. We tend to get out of our mission, driven by the market, so the reencounter with these “first loves” is the real reason why we do this work. Being in Mexico allows me to feel more complete and more focused on the future. I think Mexico City has an energy of the future—in music, in art, with architecture, design, and fashion. It is a vital place in the world we are in, and it also has a focus on craftsmanship. Our artists are aware of this.

And how does this work with the artists you represent?

We have a great point in common, and that is that we are from the same generation. This represents a strength and, at the same time, a challenge. We are together and we move forward together, sometimes without knowing where we are going. With artists there is a real collaboration, but above all, a kind of confidentiality in our interactions, because I understand what they have lived through, the obstacles they may face in terms of art or society; that is why I have always fought for and with them. I don’t usually speak of “them,” but rather “us.” It is a collective mission to emancipate and change mentalities that society may have about artists of African origin. Artists anchored between the old world and the new; between cultures and traditional and contemporary practices. It’s the same with the Japanese artists in the gallery—they have this ability to navigate between two waters. That’s what I’m looking for.

And how do you determine what has a message in the current contemporary art world?

I think art has to revolutionize and sometimes disturb, but art is also an exercise in contemplation—it should allow an escape, create a projection, and seek an aspiration about beauty. The great classical artists succeeded in sublimating reality. Art that is very reactionary or uncomfortable is not incompatible with the other type. Eventually, it can revolutionize the customs of society while inviting contemplation and beauty. For me, beauty is revolutionary. To offer a different aesthetic point of view on Western perception, created by artists of African origin, is revolutionary. They have always been caricatured or labeled in a certain way, so I seek to take into account their perception and to make clear a rejection of this imposed canon of beauty, and the need to obtain that validation.

Did you always imagine this place, this garden in which we are talking today?