Staten Island artist expands youth mentorship through comics and television

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For local artist and mentor Ashshahid Muhammad, creativity has always been more than self-expression: it’s been survival.

The Mariners Harbor resident has long used his art to transform personal pain into community healing, and since we last spoke with him in 2023, he’s been busier than ever continuing that mission.

Muhammad, who founded Graffiti University Comics — a brand he built in college to educate youth about drugs, bullying, crime and incarceration through art — recently released his latest book, “W.B.C Comic Book 2: Wave Nu-Vo Era.” Like much of his work, it draws from his own life, transforming his early experiences with incarceration and street life into cautionary stories for younger readers.

“My comic books are based on my life story. Instead of writing it all in one autobiography, I broke it up into a series,” Muhammad told the Advance/SILive.com. “In this book, I wanted to share my experience on choosing the right friends and peers to be around and really just pay attention to your choices that you make at a young age, because the choices that I made when I was 15, I’m still paying for them today.”

Since that release, Muhammad’s creative output has expanded far beyond the page. Through a partnership with Community Media of Staten Island, he now hosts “One Eye Television,” a show where he paints, draws and teaches while weaving in lessons from his life. The program has become both a personal outlet and an education platform that reaches classrooms, community residences and youth centers across the borough.

“I created my own show where I do art and teach through it,” he explained. “I do episodes on how to create art, how to write books and I also tie it into my life story. Schools come to the station and I do mentoring there. And they use my shows with the youth … to show them my story, what I’m doing.”

For Muhammad, who was shot at age 21 and lost vision in one eye, art has been nothing short of therapy. After the shooting, he fell into depression and struggled with addiction and homelessness before rediscovering purpose through painting.

“In that period, that’s when I picked up a pencil and a paintbrush, and that’s where I realized that when I paint, I feel better,” he said. “I use that experience to show the youth like, even though I got shot and I was in the streets, I was able to change my life and find my gift that I really have passion for: to be able to create. And this art really changed my life and it saved me. Art is therapeutic to me because it helped me cope with life.”

The message that creation can be redemptive is something he brings to his mentorship and public talks. He continues to work with schools and community centers, often participating in outdoor art events and collaborations with Art Lab on Staten Island. His presentations confront the realities of addiction and street life head-on, offering what he calls the “raw truth.”

“I let them ask me questions on things like why I smoked weed, what it was like being homeless, what it’s like being incarcerated. I break it down to them and I tell them the truth,” he said. “Because once you get caught in the streets, it’s no mercy. The addiction don’t care, and the people in the streets don’t care.”

Recently, Muhammad has also begun filming a new video series tied to an upcoming fictional comic book project: “North Park.” Unlike his autobiographical work, the “North Park” comic book series is a fully original story — a Staten Island-based animal adventure series he both writes and illustrates.

“I never did a fiction book before,” he said. “All my books have been real life, so I wanted to make my own characters and my own world. But there are certain New York sites that are going to be featured in my comic book. I go to the scene, get the feel of it, see it for myself and sketch it.”

He said his next goal is to develop his filmmaking skills further and eventually submit his work to film festivals. Beyond that, he hopes to keep expanding Graffiti University Comics as both a creative hub and a teaching platform.

Among the artists who’ve inspired him most is the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose story he first encountered while in recovery.

“When I watched the movie about Basquiat, I said, ‘That’s my story’,” he said. “The way he expressed himself with his art and his paint and his life. He gave it to you on the canvas.”

For Muhammad, that kind of honesty in his work is crucial and what he hopes will reach others, too.

“When I became addicted to drugs real bad, I lost my voice. So, I said, when I get my voice back, I want to share my story for the youth, for the homeless people, for the mental health people,” he said. “I hope when they hear my story, that it’ll spark a light or something into them.”