Education takes flight under Ghanaian artist’s repurposed planes

In 2021, Ibrahim bought the planes using proceeds from US$1mil (RM4.5mil) worth of sales to add to his Red Clay Studio, a multi-acre compound that functions as an open-door, education hub. Photo: Reuters

Hundreds of metres above the village of Jenakpeng in northern Ghana, a small drone locked its sights on six airplanes parked in the middle of a verdant field miles away from the nearest runway.

The drone’s 16-year-old pilot, Jenakpeng native Abdul-Latif Zakaria, stood with his father Danaa in the shadow of a vintage Antonov cropduster, one of six planes that world-renowned artist Ibrahim Mahama has transformed into a community learning space.