artist

Martin Toloku

Amsterdam
artist
Martin Toloku
discipline
visual arts
location
Amsterdam

Martin Toloku is a Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist, born in 1992 in Adidome, in the Volta region of Ghana. He graduated from Sogakofe Senior High School (SOGASCO) in 2013, where he studied visual arts with a specialisation in ceramics. He later undertook an apprenticeship in sculpture with a traditional woodcarver. From 2022 to 2024, he was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

Martin Toloku’s practice has evolved over the years from wood carving to installations, video work, live performances, and collaborations with both people and animals. He is fascinated by the process of decay and the changing materiality associated with it. His work also addresses concepts such as life and death, time and space, and nature. By collecting dead and decaying wood from rivers, streams, seas, lakes, forests, and his surroundings, Toloku seeks to transform conceptual and performative compositions of both life and death into everyday experiences.

Ammodo has supported the work of Martin Toloku through projects at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Manifesta, and Buro Stedelijk.