Fez — Cameroonian artist Hako Hankson is returning to Casablanca’s L’Atelier 21 with “Présences immémoriales” (Immemorial Presences), a solo exhibition running from June 9 to July 13.
The exhibition marks Hankson’s second appearance at the Casablanca gallery and presents a new body of work produced during his residency in the city.
The series explores the role of painting in a world marked by geopolitical tension, while avoiding direct documentary treatment.
Instead, Hankson turns to portraiture, myth, and symbolic presence. His paintings appear as inhabited spaces, where intimate memory meets broader questions of heritage, violence, and cultural continuity.
Portraits shaped by memory
In “Présences immémoriales,” the portrait remains central to Hankson’s visual language. Yet the faces he paints are not simple representations of individuals. They carry narrative, epic, and spiritual weight, opening the canvas to a wider conversation between African traditions, contemporary art, and Casablanca’s creative environment.
Writer Olivier Rachet, in the exhibition catalogue, describes the new series as rooted in a strong cultural anchoring while reaching toward a universal dimension. He also notes that Hankson’s work should not be reduced to ethnographic reading, because it engages with a broader history of art.
That broader history includes echoes of masks, sacred statuary, cubist references, and the speed of urban graffiti. The result is a painting style that feels ancient and immediate at once.
From Bafang to Douala
Born Gaston Hako in 1968 in Bafang, Cameroon, Hako Hankson grew up immersed in the traditional cultures and rituals of western Cameroon. L’Atelier 21 says the self-taught artist drew early inspiration from initiation objects, including masks and statuettes, while his father’s work as a sculptor also shaped his imagination.
Hankson emerged on the art scene in the 1990s and has since exhibited internationally. He lives and works in Douala, Cameroon, where he continues to develop a practice grounded in ancestral memory and contemporary urgency.
His works have entered major collections, including the World Bank collection in Cameroon, Fondation Donwahi (Donwahi Foundation) in Côte d’Ivoire, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in France, Fondation H in Madagascar, and the Gervanne & Matthias Leridon Collection in France.
