Young Life in Freetown: Portrait of an Artist


You can never do too much drawing. Abbas Jalloh hasn't stopped since he drew his first diagram in primary school. By high school, he had broken free from lines and drew a picture of Justin Bieber so well that he became one of the most popular people at school.

"To be honest, I cannot say my work is priceless,” said the now 22-year-old mass communications student at Fourah Bay College. "I love sketching and drawing because it looks realistic after the work is completed," he said.

He doesn't do exhibitions because he doesn't have a space to showcase his work. However, there are people who sponsor him. Some pay fairly well too for their sketches.

 "Artistically, my drawing mentors are many,” he said. “ Aliya, a Sierra Leonean who did lots of the paintings at one of the biggest nightclubs at Calabatown; Theophilus Boateng a.k.a. TheoPencil, the unmatchable Ghanaian artist and millionaire as well, who specializes in pencil; and  Olusegun Olumede, a Nigerian painter who specializes in color," he said.

Some of Abbas's best work on social media are drawings he made of the former president of the department of mass communications, Theriyeh Koroma, and myself.

"Obviously my motivators are my friends: Ibrahim S. Mansaray, Inyilla Borteh Conteh, Mohamed BC, my bro; Bockarie Kondowa, Mohamed Maka Jalloh, my bro; Sulaiman Sesay, Theriyeh Koroma, etc,” he said.

"I don't want much actually, I just want the world to get to learn about my skills and appreciate me for what I am. I want to be a great professor in this particular field of art.  My skill, my agenda,” he said.

Over the years, Abbas has worked for schools printing tee-shirts, football Jerseys, sashes, banners, etc. He has also done stenciling for big clubs and organizations such as, Sorbeh Association, Tamaraneh, Lewarf, which many young men and women are part of,” as a way of empowering and improving their lives, etc," he said.

For Young Life in Freetown, I'm Inyilla Borteh Conteh.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 5, 2018 at 3:21 PM

    That's my artist, well known for his professional art creativity. Love you bro

    ReplyDelete

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