Correct syntax to point to a graphics file in ELGG

Anyone know what is the correct syntax to add a line in ELGG to point to an image file to display it?
I'd like to add a graphics image in the left-hand menu toolbar and looking at the page view, the entire script is written in PHP. I'm not sure of the syntax to be able to display this item. When I try to assign an object the HTML syntax to call the file, (i.e. $img = "<a href {etc}><img src = "etc"> </a>"), the script seems to not understand the multiple quotes and therefore I can't use $img to call the file location.
thanks for any help!