Tijay Mohammed

#repost @nycscagram “Respect for All” is a site-specific mural by Tijay Mohammed (@artoftijay ), located in the lobby of the new Aurelia Greene Educational Campus in the Bronx. Installed on two adjacent walls, the mural features two groups of figures in a library setting. On the main wall behind the security desk, four individuals sew a large, colorful quilt adorned with affirmations like “I am respected,” “I am smart,” and “I am understood.” On the corridor wall, a father is shown reading a book titled “Respect for All” to his young child snuggled on his lap. The quilt stretches across both scenes, cradling the parent and child as they read and visually connecting the two narratives. Mohammed prepared for this project by visiting libraries around the Bronx. He selected popular children’s book titles and incorporated them on the bookshelves in the background of his mural. To create the artwork, Mohammed gathered clippings from magazines, newspapers, local maps, and wrapping papers. He assembled these paper elements and integrated hand-painted components to form an intricate composition layered with text and pattern. The collage was then photographed and digitally printed with ceramic inks onto porcelain tiles. Warm, inspiring, and full of discoveries, “Respect for All” celebrates the rich history and diversity of the Bronx and highlights the power of literacy as a path to creativity and connectedness. 📰 📚🗺️ Photography Credit: Etienne Frossard @etienne_fro #NYCSCA #NYCSchoolConstructionAuthority #PublicArtForPublicSchools #PercentforArt #NYCPercentforArt #NYCSchools #NYCDOEArtCollection #NYCPublicArt #PublicArtinSchools #NYCKids #PublicArt #SiteSpecific #InstallationArt #ContemporaryArt #Bronx #CeramicTile #TiledMurals #CustomTiles #Murals #DigitalCeramicsCustomTiles #TijayMohammed #ghana #kids #AureliaGreene #District9 #24in2024 #tiles #read #quilt

REPOST @materialsforthearts We had a blast attending 2020 MFTA Artist-in-Residence Tijay Mohammed’s opening night of his solo exhibition, “Read to a Child,” at Casita Maria Gallery (@casitamariabx ) last week! Tijay Mohammed is a Bronx-based, Ghanaian-born artist who has exhibited his works nationally and internationally. He is committed to working with the diverse communities with which he surrounds himself, and organizes workshops and community-based projects for organizations. This exhibit’s work is inspired, in part, by Maya Angelou’s quote, “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” Mohammed’s work explores immigrant stories both through his personal experience and through more universal notions of immigration. His work often focuses on children who straddle both continents, including his own daughter’s experience being born in the US and now living in Ghana. His work also explores the notion of “other” in the United States. This year, Casita Maria - whose public programming is supported by @NYCulture - is focused on addressing the deepening inequality in literacy rates that has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, with educational programs that focus on new and fun ways to learn to read, write and love oneself through the creative arts. Featuring relatable images paired with celebratory content for young children to read, Mohammed’s work is the perfect vehicle to achieve this mission. Plus - all the materials used in his exhibit were found or repurposed, some of them even came from MFTA! Free and open to the public, “Read to a Child” is on view through August 18. #mfta #materialsforthearts #tijaymohammed #upcycle #reels #art #ghana #africa #artgallery #solo solotr#solotravel @janellenaomi #paper #kids #kidsart #nyc #bronx #thebest

✨Exciting news! I’m part of @LMCC_NYC ‘s 2026 Arts Center Residency. I’ll be creating on @governorsisland for the next 8 months Exploring on how climate begins with care for the land and communities. I understand climate not only as an ecological crisis, but as a lived condition shaped by migration, labor, memory, and survival. Growing up in Ghana and now partially living in the U.S, I witnessed how environmental instability and economic pressure quietly push people to move, adapt, and reimagine home. In my project “Goodbye America and Welcome Home” I ask viewers to consider what is discarded and who bears the cost…..>>> Through SANKOFA, a Ghanaian Adinkra symbol which means “learning for the past to inspire the present to benefit future generations” Working alongside an incredible cohort of artists. The residency supports artists across disciplines with time and space for experimentation, while engaging social, environmental, and civic questions especially in relation to climate and our changing world. #LMCCArtsCenter #tijaymohammed #artscenterresidency #ghana

Check out Tijay Mohammed’s (@artoftijay ) work at the “Living” exhibit at Old Stone House, Brooklyn, on view until 2/23/26! Black Black Black , 2020 Acrylic, resin, glitter glue on Baltic birch plywood 120 x 20 x 2 inches $15,000 I am…3, 2025 Fabric, paper, yarn, thread, acrylic, watercolor, found objects, and plaster on a wooden board 38 x 50x 6 inches $12,000 Statement about the work: 1. This work reflects on what it means to be Black, shaped by the layered experiences of Black and Brown lives in the United States. It introduces a shared symbol that honors all races, faiths, genders, and nations who continue to affirm that Black Lives Matter. Rooted in over 400yrs of history stretching from Africa to America, the work carries ancestral knowledge forward. Kente fabric colors speak of power, wisdom, and spirit, while Adinkra symbols function as a living language of values and ways of being. Together, their forms create an immersive field of Black love and joy, affirming dignity, heritage, and collective memory, while echoing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of freedom, justice, and equality. The piece was originally designed on the street in front of the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York, now known as Black Lives Matter Boulevard. 2. I Am #3 is part of a mixed-media collage series shaped by childhood memory, ambition, and becoming. Inspired by the artist’s early discovery of creativity while collecting recycled objects and aluminum scraps on the streets of Nima, Accra, Ghana and from primary boarding school years spent drawing and writing on walls. The work honors imagination born of play, resilience, and curiosity. Childlike drawings and Ghanaian Adinkra symbols are layered with toys and jigsaw puzzles, forming an interactive language of memory and heritage. African wax, Kente, batik, and tie-dye fabrics gathered from seamstresses across Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and New York wrap each portrait like a communal embrace. Together, the compositions celebrate overlooked lives and labor while embodying hope, wisdom, strength, positive energy, and self-love.

✨ LIVING — AnkhLave Arts Alliance’s 2nd Biennial ✨ Moments from the opening, bringing together artists from the 2024 & 2025 AnkhLave Garden Project cohorts. Across sculpture, installation, painting, and multimedia, Living explores life as relational, ancestral, and ever-unfolding. Participating Artists: - Yupin Pramotepipop (@yupinpramotepipop ) - Tijay Mohammed (@artoftijay ) - Kevin Gordon (@kh_gordon ) - Hong Wu (@artbyhongwu ) - Kraig Blue (@kraigblueartist ) - Damali Abrams (@damaliabrams ) - Coralina Rodriguez Meyer (@coralinarodriguezmeyer ) - Diego Espaillat (@diegoantonioespaillat ) - Xiong Wei (@xiongweiii_studio ) - Chihiro Ito (@chihirohihihi ) Grateful to the artists, community, and Old Stone House, Brooklyn (@oldstonehousebklyn ) for holding space 🌱 Curated by Dario Mohr (@dariomohr_art ) #LivingExhibition #AnkhLaveArts #OpeningNight Publi

AnkhLave Arts Alliance (@ankhlave ) is happy to announce our partnership with Children’s Museum of Manhattan (@cmomnyc ) for a series of workshops. For MLK weekend we had Tijay Mohammed lead one on collage. (@artoftijay ) Photo credit: Yupin Pramotepipop (@yupinpramotepipop )

The beloved MetroCard will soon be nothing but a fading memory in the minds of New Yorkers, but in 2020 MFTA Artist-in-Residence Tijay Mohammed (@artoftijay ) immortalized the iconic yellow cards in his solo exhibition at MFTA, “Phase 2: See Something, Say Something.” Inspired by the titular slogan coined by the MTA, Mohammed’s “Phase 2: See Something, Say Something” explored themes of migration, travel, and shared histories. For years, the artist meticulously collected MetroCards and, once his friends and colleagues caught wind, they began sharing their old cards with him as well, resulting in the breathtaking work showcased in his solo exhibition. Beginning his residency just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mohammed’s work came to MFTA during a pivotal time in the city’s history when these little yellow cards — normally ubiquitous in the life of the city — became temporarily obsolete while New Yorkers were under quarantine orders and subway ridership plunging to historic lows. Now, almost six years later, we cherish this MFTA alum’s work all the more as we’ve officially parted ways with our MetroCards. 💛

🌱 LIVING 🌱 AnkhLave Arts Alliance’s 2nd Biennial Exhibition Opening Friday, January 23rd from 6-8pm Living brings together two cohorts of AnkhLave Garden Project artists: 2024 & 2025 into one expansive conversation. Across disciplines, geographies, and lived experience, 10 artists explore not just what it means to live, but how life expresses, transforms, and remembers itself. All exhibiting artists are alumni of the AnkhLave Garden Project, our flagship fellowship and public art initiative for BIPOC artists, bringing art into gardens, parks, and green spaces so creativity can be encountered beyond institutional walls. 🌿 From Harlem’s Artist Gardener Community Garden (@theartistgardenernyc ) 🌿 To the green lawns of Governors Island (@governorsisland ) The works move across human and more-than-human realms: animal, plant, fungal, earthly, and ethereal, imagining life as a relational act, an ecology shaped by ancestry, culture, environment, and spirit. Through sculpture, installation, painting, and multimedia work, Living invites us to see existence not as fixed, but as an unfolding field of possibility. Participating Artists: - Yupin Pramotepipop (@yupinpramotepipop ) - Tijay Mohammed (@artoftijay ) - Kevin Gordon (@kh_gordon ) - Hong Wu (@artbyhongwu ) - Kraig Blue (@kraigblueartist ) - Damali Abrams (@damaliabrams ) - Coralina Rodriguez Meyer (@coralinarodriguezmeyer ) - Diego Espaillat (@diegoantonioespaillat ) - Xiong Wei (@xiongweiii_studio ) - Chihiro Ito (@chihirohihihi ) Curated by Dario Mohr (@dariomohr_art ), Founder & Director of AnkhLave Arts Alliance (@ankhlave ) With gratitude to Old Stone House, Brooklyn (@oldstonehousebklyn )🤍 #LivingExhibition #AnkhLaveArts #PublicArt #BIPOCArtists

The 2026 Peace Calendar offers a full year of dynamic, uplifting artwork to sustain us through these challenging times. The diverse array of media and styles – murals, painting, illustration, photography, and mixed media – will enrich your days throughout the new year. Dio Cramer's powerful cover art calls us to resist together, to Hold Strong to our values.⁠ ⁠ January’s artwork “I Am…” is a mixed media piece by Ghanaian-born artist Tijay Mohammed. It includes Ghanaian symbols to combine traditional wisdom with academic knowledge as it highlights the importance of public education for both individuals and for society.⁠ ⁠ We’re close to selling out of the 2026 Peace Calendar, so order yours today at the link in bio.⁠ ⁠ @artoftijay

Shout out to Tijay Mohammed (@artoftijay ), a Ga artist from Ghana, who shared some fantastic feedback on my piece Final Victory (@dariomohr_art ) on Governors Island (@governorsisland ) I recently learned through African Ancestry that I’m also of Ga descent on my mother’s side, which raised a number of questions for me. Other DNA tests had listed my ancestry as primarily Nigerian with some Ghanaian, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon, yet both of my traced tribes: Akan and Ga, are rooted in Accra, Ghana. My earlier research showed that the Ga have lived in Ghana for roughly 300 years, with little clarity about their origins. Because the Akan umbrella includes groups like the Fante and Asante (the latter having created the Adinkra symbols and kente cloth, now iconic across the diaspora and a key Pan-African signifier since the 1960s), I assumed the “Nigerian” ancestry might be tied to the Ga. But it wasn’t until I traveled to Ghana that things clicked. Within my first two hours on the ground, my guide pointed out a monument explaining that the Ga people originally migrated from Nigeria. That moment helped bridge the gap between the DNA results, family lineage, and cultural history, bringing even more personal resonance to Final Victory and the conversations it’s sparking. Even when travel is not accessible, it is great to know people like Tijay who generously shares about his heritage in self expression as well as his art, being a fellow MFTA residency alum and having worked with so many arts institutions trans-continentally to spread awareness of the indigenous African textile traditions and their meanings. Tijay will also serve as the AnkhLave (@ankhlave ) Public Artist in Residence for 2026 on Governors Island!

Tijay Mohammed “See Something, Say Something” 2020 Metro cards, variety of nets, paper clips, and mirrors. Solo show @materialsforthearts “Baobab tree of life” 20203-24 Commissioned by @beamcenter Installed #vancourtlandtpark @vcpalliance #metrocards #nyc #art #ghana

Many thanks to Tijay Mohammad (@artoftijay ) for creating a truly unique installation on the porch of our residency building for the 7th annual AnkhLave Garden Project Exhibition (@ankhlave ) on Governors Island (@governorsisland ) It really activates our porch providing a welcome space for artists and audiences! “An Nisa: The Women“ “An-Nisa: The Women”, celebrates the vital and significant role of women, referencing a verse in the Quran that highlights the elevated ranks of women and promoting peaceful coexistence with one’s neighbors, humanity and the environment. The site-specific installation predominantly consists of African wax, Kente, Batik and Tie and dye fabrics scraps, collected from seamstresses across Africa, Caribbean, and United States, symbolically, it represents groups portrait of diverse communities.The piece was created collaboratively with visiting families at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan NY. Through an interactive process that demonstrates a commitment to community, self-love and appreciation, with cultural and historical references inspired by the Ghanaian Adinkra symbol ‘Sankofa,’ which means ‘learning from the past to ensure a prosperous future. This collaboration creates a sanctuary space that celebrates unity in diversity, while amplifying and community- love atmosphere. Photo credit: David Yonghwan-Lee (@david_yonghwan_lee )