Wood and Sand Wall Art of a Drummer from Ghana 'Kontokoli' Item ID: 2671806325

“In 1982 I was born to two farmers in Addogyir, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. My friends say I am a nice person; humble and hardworking. I am the second child of five children. My siblings and I grew up in Addogyir and schooled in Nsawam, a nearby town. My parents saw me through primary school to the senior high level. My dad suffered a stroke and went to be with the Lord in 2017. My parents were hardworking people and also believe in education. But due to financial constraints, I dropped out of school when I was 18.

“After I dropped out of school, I found this fruit processing company where I worked for a while. In 2008, the factory collapsed and I lost my job. I then moved into construction, where I was doing day jobs for the constructors to make ends meet. Life, I must say, was not easy; but God listened to my prayers. In no time I was employed by Blue Skies, another fruit processing company where I was working at the Intake Department. I worked with Blue Skies for three years.

“But I had the strong passion and drive for art since childhood. A friend visited me and gave me a collage work piece which I hung in my room. After days of looking at the art piece critically, I realized I could do it, if only I got a little help from the one who did it.

“To cut the long story short, I asked my friend to show me where he bought the art piece. After meeting the artist I expressed my interest in learning the craft. It took me a year to learn and perfect my craft. I paid for the training. Training with my master was very cool. After completion I started producing collage works to sell to friends. Getting a customer base was really difficult. Sales became bad; sometimes I had given out the artworks without being paid. Despite the low sales I still had a strong passion that one day my breakthrough would come. My dream is that one day my works will go international, and people will appreciate them.

“I am not married yet, but will someday. I want to make enough money to put my children through school and possibly to the tertiary level, as my parents wished they could have done. With your help, I am very hopeful.”