“I didn’t start creating art to impress — I started to survive. Today, I create to heal.”

My journey with art has always been personal. Growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia, traditional learning felt like an endless struggle. But art — vivid, tactile, and full of emotion became my language before words could make sense. What began as a form of escape evolved into a tool for survival, and eventually, a strategy for transformation.

Today, I use art not only to tell stories but to restore dignity, spark connection, and promote healing across communities that are often overlooked especially in the Global South.

Mural Work in Hospital Spaces

I have spent the last several years designing and leading public mural projects in hospitals, transforming sterile, intimidating medical spaces into vibrant sanctuaries of hope. In wards filled with beeping machines and quiet fear, color becomes medicine. These murals aren’t just decorative, they’re designed with intention, storytelling, and empathy, offering patients, caregivers, and medical staff a visual breath of peace during painful journeys.

Art as Therapy for Critically Ill Children

Through my nonprofit work and government-based collaborations, I’ve facilitated arts-based therapy programs for children facing chronic and critical illnesses. In moments where words fail, where children are in pain, frightened, or emotionally withdrawn — art steps in to give them voice, control, and a sense of wonder. These workshops offer more than a distraction. They offer healing, emotional release, and sometimes, joy.

Community Wellness for the Elderly

In 2022, through my fellowship with the Global South Arts and Health Movement, I co-led a community wellness event focused on creative healing for the elderly. The program addressed the growing public health crisis of loneliness and isolation among older adults in both urban and rural Ghana — a demographic often left out of innovation and well-being conversations. Through story-sharing, collaborative painting, music, and movement, we created welcoming spaces where elderly participants could express themselves, feel seen, and reconnect with others.

But our work didn’t stop there.

In 2023 and 2024, I served as Ghana’s Festival Director for the Global South Arts and Health Week and led multiple creative health initiatives that deepened the impact of our mission featured in GhanaWeb. One of the most powerful moments came through a series of art campaigns in collaboration with local partners like the TE’Apo Foundation.

We also organized community-wide health education events focused on stroke prevention — at the time, the leading cause of death in Ghana. These engagements brought together market women, church communities, and local leaders to participate in free health screenings and critical conversations about lifestyle, wellness, and early detection.

As part of a powerful collaboration with the Theatre and Performance Faculty at the University of Ghana, I co-led the development of a series of monologues and performances focused on women’s reproductive health, blending education with performance to destigmatize taboo topics and promote informed well-being.

Across these initiatives, we’ve proven that wellness is not confined to hospitals or clinics. It thrives in community centers, art spaces, churches, and markets — anywhere people are willing to listen, share, and imagine a healthier future together. Read more here

Global South Arts & Health Fellowship

As a Fellow of the Global South Arts & Health Movement, I am part of a growing community of artists, health professionals, and educators using culture-based approaches to tackle global health disparities. Our collective work focuses on leveraging local art forms as catalysts for wellness, identity, and resilience in regions that have historically been under-resourced or underserved by mainstream mental health systems.

Through this fellowship, my work has deepened — not only in reach, but in meaning. I now build on traditional knowledge, research, and lived experience to explore how the arts can help us heal across borders, generations, and systems.

Why It Matters

Healing is more than physical recovery. It’s about restoring wholeness — emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. In the communities I serve, healing through art is not a luxury. It is a necessity. It’s a way to reconnect to self, culture, and hope in environments where trauma often silences those voices.

I believe art can change lives — not just through galleries and stages, but through classrooms, hospital walls, and the hands of a child with a brush.

If you’re interested in collaborating on art-for-health programs, research, or global arts and wellness initiatives — [get in touch].