Muhsana was born in Philadelphia in 1967. She spent nine years of formal study in the arts at the university level, pursuing fine arts studies at a number of reputable institutions such as Parsons School of Design, PA Academy of the Fine Arts, La Sorbonne, University of the Arts, and Moore College of Art.  She also trained in Bronze Casting with Masters of the Art in Cote 'D'ivoire and in mosaic arts with Isaiah Zagar, a renowned master of mosaic murals in Philadelphia.  

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From early on, Muhsana had been preoccupied by a desire to understand and know more of her African origins.  This desire was reflected in her 1993 master’s thesis entitled: The Effects of European Centered Education on African American Artists. The question led her to travel on her own to the African continent in 1997. That same year, she was provided funding for her project to research traditional and contemporary African Art and to produce an exhibition based on that research. 

 

After six months of research and travel in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Senegal and South Africa, she later settled in Cote d'Ivoire for the production of her exhibition.  Muhsana discovered an abandoned building in the center of the business district of the capital city of Abidjan. Her fascination with exploring the vastness of that space led to what evolved into a two-year project involving the gang of over 50 homeless youth she found living there.

 

This group of wayward teens, many of them drug-addicted and prone to crime and violence, subsequently became an integral part of her work.  This experience led her to discover the power of art to inspire community innovation and to transform human consciousness. This Cote d’Ivoire exhibition, Portes et Passages du Retour (Doors and Passageways of Return), became the title of the association she later co-founded when she eventually relocated to Senegal.

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Thus the association Portes et Passages du Retour, and its Center for Art and Holistic Development, situated in Mbodiene, Senegal, has served as a vital community hub for that rural region since 2007.  The objective of this project has been to generate community-centered programs revolving around holistic and alternative engagement in all areas of development in the society and a commitment to raising the awareness of creative values, improving the manner in which such values are manifested in the everyday lives of inhabitants throughout the region.

 

The association has worked with a number of educational and arts institutions throughout the world including the Gwangju Biennale; Arts Collaboratory ; the Dakar Biennale in Senegal; CIEE international exchange program; University of Michigan (to name a few); it has received funding from the a number of sources including Doen Foundation, and the American Institute of Architects. Muhsana has initiated a number of socially interactive works in a number of communities in the U.S. and in Africa. Her work was featured in the award winning film, “Philadelphia” and is on display in the White house commemorating the 2001 bronze award she produced for President Clinton in 2001.

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Muhsana has participated in numerous international residencies, conferences and lectures and around the world. She has served as artist in residence and visiting instructor at the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Pennsylvania. Muhsana was awarded official selection at the Dakar Biennale. She holds numerous awards and honors including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Fulbright fellowship.  

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Muhsana’s work is currently featured in the renovated Africa Galleries at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, PA.