Hako Hankson, with real name Gaston Hako, was born in 1968 in a Bamileke chiefdom, Western Cameroon. His father was a traditional sculptor and a dignitary whose role was to keep cultural ceremonial objects needed for all the initiation rites of the chiefdom.
As a self taught artist, he first started with drawing then with painting. He lives and works in Douala.
His paintings are mostly metaphorical narrations of the language of the initiation heritage, of fragmented histories and of life, of ancestral rites and abandonned beliefs.
His works celebrate a possible transmission of rites passed by throughout time.
In 2015 he founded In and Off Art Center in Douala.
Selected Solo exhibitions :
2016 : "Traces du passé et poussières de cendre", Espace Doual'art, Douala
2014 : "Lignes du Coeur", Maison de la Coopération Allemande, Yaoundé
2014 : "Traditions et contemporanéité", Espace doual'art, Douala
2011 : "Ombres et Esprits ", Espace doual’art, Douala
2011 : “Benskin”, Centre Culturel Français, Yaoundé
2011 : "Initiation", Coopération Allemande, Yaoundé
2009 : “Remember Patrice Lumumba”, Centre Culturel Français, Douala
2008 : "Nuances Délicates", Centre Culturel Français, Yaoundé
2004 : "Fouilles Arkéologic", Espace doual'art, Douala
2000 : Jet Hotel, Douala
1999 : Galerie Continent, Douala
Selected Group exhibitions :
2015 : "Together for the Future", In and Off Art Center, Douala
2013 : "Jonction", Carré des Artistes, Douala
2013 : World Bank, Yaoundé
2012 : "Douala, Portraits", Espace doual’art, Douala
2012 : World Bank, Yaoundé
2010: "Otentic City ", Bonapriso-Douala
2005 : World Bank, Yaoundé
2003 : "Espoir ", Médecins sans Frontières, Douala
2002 : Salon international de l’entreprise, Yaoundé
2000 : Galerie Continent, Douala
1999 : Atelier squat- art, Douala
1999 : Espace doual’art, Douala
Awards:
2009 : Laureate "Ecritures et Art Bamoun"
2000 : Laureate of the Street Art contest
Public collection:
World Bank
