Jibril Achu
‘I was born and raised in Bamenda, in the North West Province of Cameroon where I got inspired to be creative at a very young age. I give gratitude to the mentors who guided me through my career in becoming a professional visual artist today.
My grandfather mentored me from the age of five on how to be a skilful blacksmith in the art of lost wax casting technique in traditional artifacts, but before convincing myself that my direction in life is in visual arts, I had to be motivated by one of Cameroon’s masters of Visual Arts in African abstractionism named Zante Spee. He promised me mentorship if I continued to draw and create arts until I was eighteen.
The Spee Arts And Cultural Centre in Bamenda is a non-governmental organization created by Mr Zante Spee which strives to support the underprivileged youths interested in studying visual arts or other forms of craft work.
When I was finally eighteen I got mentorship at the Spee Art and Cultural Centre in early 2000’s through the senior mentor at that time Mr Angu Walters who is still a successful visual artist today and still based in Bamenda. He also guided me through a couple of local arts exhibitions which were successful, and that same year I received the prize for third runner-up to the national competition in the best collage artists in Cameroon.
I travelled to South Africa in 2006 and registered to study computer science, and obtained a diploma in Information Systems at Johannesburg City College 2009 and a diploma in Graphic Design in 2011 at College Campus Johannesburg .
By the year 2013, I was already established in Johannesburg and have since then been creating and growing my skills’.
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