Salifu Mohammed (Alaagy) was born in Northern Ghana in a primitive farming community near the Burkina Faso border. Before he moved to California in 2001 to become DrawBridge's artist-in-residence, he graduated from the Ankle College of Art in Accra.
As a child, Alaagy experienced many hardships and abuse and was eventually raised by his grandmother. Because of his experiences he is able to connect with the DrawBridge children in natural and meaningful ways.. During the past six years he has collaborated with DrawBridge children to create murals at six San Francisco Bay Area shelters and one in New York City in partnership with Good Shepherd Services.
In 2006 Alaagy completed an exquisite mural (18 feet high) with children from the Canal neighborhood of San Rafael (view mural >> | learn more >>). Currently, he leads one of DrawBridge's 30 weekly art groups and is working with the Canal Welcome Center on another Canal neighborhood mural initiative (view mural >> | learn more >>). The project is funded by the Stuart Foundation.
Learn more about Alaagy's Mural work >>>
Read newspaper article "Connecting through art" about Alaagy's work with DrawBridge >>>
