Introducing Ace-Liam Ankrah, a toddler from Ghana who has made history as the world’s youngest male artist. According to his mother, Chantelle Kukua Eghan, Ace-Liam’s journey into the art world began serendipitously when, at just 6 months old, he stumbled upon her acrylic paints.
Eghan, herself an artist and the founder of Arts and Cocktails Studio, a bar in Ghana’s capital, Accra, offering painting lessons, shared that she was seeking a way to engage her son while she worked on her own paintings.
“I spread out a canvas on the floor and added paint to it, and then in the process of crawling he ended up spreading all the colors on the canvas,” she said.
And that’s how his first artwork, “The Crawl,” was born, Eghan, 25, told The Associated Press.
Following his initial discovery, Ace-Liam continued to paint with encouragement from his mother. Last June, Eghan decided to pursue a Guinness World Record for her son. In November, Guinness World Records informed her that to break the previous record, Ace-Liam needed to exhibit and sell his paintings.
In January, Ace-Liam’s first exhibition took place at the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra. Out of the ten pieces displayed, nine were sold, although Eghan did not disclose the sale prices.
Subsequently, Guinness World Records confirmed Ace-Liam’s record, declaring him “the world’s youngest male artist” at the age of 1 year and 152 days.
The previous holder of the title of the youngest male artist was not immediately available from Guinness World Records.
However, the overall record for the world’s youngest artist is held by India’s Arushi Bhatnagar, who had her first exhibition at 11 months old in 2003.
At almost two years old, Ace-Liam still enjoys painting and frequently accompanies his mother to her studio, where a designated space has been set up just for him. Despite his young age, he demonstrates focus and concentration during his painting sessions, which typically last around five minutes.
Although becoming a world record holder has not drastically changed their lives, Eghan plans to keep Ace-Liam’s painting titled “The Crawl” within the family. She hopes that the media attention surrounding her son’s achievement will inspire other parents to recognize and nurture their children’s talents.
“He is painting and growing and playing in the whole process,” she says.
