28th October, 2019
Adama Traore a 40-year-old disabled street artist from Abidjan credits painting for keeping him off the streets.
Traore was born without arms and legs and joined a center for disabled youth when he was 9-years-old.
There with the help of head teacher, Marie-Odile Bilberon he learned how to paint.
"When I was a child, my mum sent me to this white lady named Marie-Odile in a center for the disabled in Abobo BC (Abidjan neighbourhood). I learned to paint there. I worked with gouache, markers. Thanks to her today, we were more than 100 disabled people in the Providence center. The lady passed away and I ended up in the streets," Traore said.
Traore says he faced difficult times in the streets of Abidjan but he refused to give up on his dream to become an artist.