Hako Hankson
Day of celebration, 2023
Hako Hankson’s work is a true ode to the past and myths of ancient African civilizations. The artist transcribes, with legitimacy, the history of ancestral rites by giving them a contemporary resonance. He grew up surrounded by distant beliefs, lulled by songs, a dialect, a poet in the manner of Homer, Hako Hankson’s frescoes substitute for the spoken word and have a real didactic function.
Mask face, 2023/Decoration of the palace, 2023/The Palace shaman, 2023
Skirting the fine line between profane and sacred, it is a rare world that is made acces- sible to the greatest number. These open windows on the past are reminders to allow the actors of the present not to commit past mistakes. It is precisely to define this new Africanity that the artist places himself as the intermediary of an invisible, secret world and uses emblematic visual elements of world-renowned artists, yet foreign to his country and its customs. Africa is known for its transmission through orality, a heritage of intangible storytelling and singing. Moreover, in this very codified world that is the court, one cannot speak of songs without mentioning dance, puppet theater, “icons” or mysterious rites, trance by evocation, ceremonies.(Courtesy Primo Marella Gallery Milan)