Alum Michael Aghahowa (’17) Profiled in Lynn Item

April 10, 2024

Montserrat alumnus and Instructor Michael Aghahowa, his deep connection to the Lynn community, and his line of “Lynn” shirts and sweatshirts, were recently covered by Lynn Item Live journalist, Matteo Valente alongside photographs by Spenser Hasak. Briefly excerpted below, the whole story can be read at ItemLive.com.

Aghahowa puts Lynn front and center

March 28, 2024 by Matteo Valente

Years ago, I stumbled upon the work of an artist on Instagram that captured my eye. I didn’t know much about him. All I knew was that he was a fellow Lynn resident and that he could pick up some paint brushes and create astonishing works of art.

Michael Terrell Aghahowa is an award-winning artist and professor at Northeastern University and Emmanuel College, where he teaches drawing and painting. Even if you have not heard of Aghahowa, you most likely have seen his art around the city. Some of his works include “Estefani’s mural,” which can be seen at Estefani’s Restaurant on Union Street, and the “Food For Thought” mural at Ernie’s Harvest Time on Essex Street, which he painted with Cinda Danh with help from The Food Project and a few volunteers. Not only that, but his work has been featured in a variety of different art exhibitions in Lynn and nearby communities.

I had the opportunity to go to Aghahowa’s studio space in Downtown Lynn, where I was able to chat with him and get a glimpse of the works he has created throughout his life. We talked about his art and the Lynn-inspired apparel that he dropped last year.

[…]

APPAREL TALK 

Aghahowa’s love for Lynn drove him to create apparel inspired by the city.

“I have a strong love for Lynn because my family has been here for a few generations. Even when I look back at old photos from the ‘80s and see Lynn and what it looked like then… that’s crazy to me,” Aghahowa said. “My memory is only of Lynn. There’s pictures of my family from the South, but I don’t know anything about that. To see Lynn in the ‘80s, before I was born, it’s kinda cool and helps me connect dots of past, present, and future.”

Although he has a strong love for Lynn, he realizes that it gets a bad reputation.

“Lynn has always had this negative stereotype. You know, ‘Lynn Lynn, city of sin.’ You know, every city has its dangerous areas, or things that are not favorable, but there are a lot of beautiful things about Lynn,” Aghahowa said. “Lynn has a rich history and I wanted to create a shirt, and a design, that felt contemporary and colorful that you could rock with your shoes, match with your hat. Something nice, and I wanted to bring a really nice quality shirt that you don’t really have access to and have it be at an affordable price. Because people deserve some nice stuff. People from Lynn are really prideful, you know. Hearing myself, I know that there’s other people.”

Becoming a dad not too long ago, Aghahowa found himself at home more than at the studio. He wanted to keep his creativity alive and bring attention to his art at the same time. 

“On the shirts, you’ll see tags with my logo on it and my website because it’s kind of like a walking business card,” Aghahowa said. “People go to the website, click around, and get access to my art work… see videos of my murals. Now when they’re walking around the city, they could be like ‘Oh, Michael painted that mural. He’s the one who makes these shirts.’ I’m really involved in my city, and I want to be more involved.”

Due to his limited space, Aghahowa plans to keep the line to just shirts and sweatshirts, but would consider expanding upon it if more space became available. If you plan to purchase the Lynn Tee or the Lynn Sweatshirt, you can find them at Aghahowa’s website, at the Lynn Museum, or at Ravenstone in Downtown Lynn.

Valente’s whole article, which includes more photos by Spenser Hasak and discussion of Aghahowa’s family influences, can be found at the article on ItemLive.com