Paul Sika spent a considerable part of his younger years playing video games and programming calculators, thus leading him to pursue a degree in Software Engineering at Westminster University in London, UK. Upon graduating, he decided to leave the field of computers and return to his home country where he currently works and resides.

Sika refers to his work as ‘photo-making’, creating his photographs the same way others may create motion pictures. The process consists of building an image rather than capturing it: a simulacrum rather than a representation as such. Using cinematographic methods, this allows him to specifically highlight people and objects, while also ‘staging’ scenes of humanity that depict an unusual nature. His energetic commitment to the creation of his images is unique. Citing influences from Ivorian popular culture, contemporary painting and the mythological scenes portrayed in a more classical era of painting, Sika’s artistic sophistication, his masterful visual language and elevated sense are the tools employed to give us such distinctive works.