Biography

I was born in Accra Ghana in December 1981. I grew up in the suburbs of Accra were I attended kindergarten. Right after kindergarten I moved to live with an auntie due to a divorce of my parents. I spent those formative years with my auntie while attending elementary school. It was around this period when I realized I had a flair for drawing. Every time I showed my drawing to my auntie and my mother who occasionally visited, they always said I traced from the original I recall, but that did not deter me from drawing. My mother wanted the best of education for me so I changed schools often until I entered what was one of the best schools at the time, the morning star. I gradually advanced from lower primary to the upper primary through to the junior secondary school. All these periods, I practiced drawing just for the love of it. My friend would marvel at some of the drawings I made. My teachers often had me do wall hangings for the class. I entered drawing competitions here and there and I remember placing third in on of the competitions. That was enough to make me decide to continue in the same vain in the senior secondary school in other words high school.

In 1999, I successfully entered the first secondary school to be established here in Ghana, Mfantsipim School, were I did a three year course in visual art. My mother protested but what is meant to be can never be changed. I passed out with flying colours and had admission to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and technology KNUST and pursued a degree program in fine art (painting). There I developed my talent from strength to strength in my own capacity through practice and reading. I participated in art exhibitions mostly abroad. In my final year at the university I developed an attraction for pen art in black and white. How it came about, I guess had roots in the Chinese philosophy of the yin and yang. .i.e. opposite forces always compliment each other so there is always a balance in the scheme of things. I started working in black and white using pen, broom sticks and literally anything that could make the desired mark. I pay respect to nature and in return it provides me with inspiration. I draw inspiration from everyday life; the joy, the pain, the music, the style, the scenery, the people etc. I try to bring all these inevitabilities to light in the art I do, by employing the strokes and patterns of magical realism.

I graduated from the university with a second class upper armed with the desire to continue with my art. Since we live in a world of change and nothing is permanent, I keep changing too. With time I believe my art will add new meaning to itself and take on new dimension for that is natural with the course of time.