Mansa K. Mussa

Mansa K. Mussa is a visual artist, arts educator, and arts consultant. A native of Newark, New Jersey, he has used the camera to document the unfolding of human events in the United States, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe for the past forty-four years. During his career in the arts, he has worked professionally as a photographer, dancer, graphic artist, writer, fabric artist, and curator. He earned a BA in Media Arts/Television Production from New Jersey City University, and studied visual art there with Professor Emeritus Ben Jones.

He is best known as a documentary photographer and collagist, and his body of work includes: The Art of Dance; Cuba Diary: A Glimpse Inside the Hidden Republic; Ghana: An African Portrait; Eyewitness: The New South Africa; Postcards from Paris and Italy; and the historic Newark: A Day in the City Photo Documentary.

His photographs and collages been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibits and published in several books, including the landmark Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present.

Mussa has been an instructor of photography and visual arts for forty years. During that time, he has developed a system for teaching art to children, teens, adults, sensational seniors and the special needs population. He currently teaches photography, collage, wearable art, book arts, mask making, and iPadology for Arts Horizons, the Newark Museum, the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Global Arts To Go, and Arts for Kids.

The most rewarding aspect of his career has been the long-time associations with the Newark Museum (thirty years), Arts Horizons (twenty-six years), Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark (twenty years), and the Performing Arts Center of New Jersey (twenty-four years).

His classes include hands-on instruction, demonstrations, historical information, and art/literacy connections.