A self-taught artist, Hako Hankson, whose real name is Gaston Hako, was initially set for a very different future. Although he is trained as a technician in automobile mechanics, Hako ultimately chose painting and the elements that forged his youth. Hako grew up under the influence of the art and culture of his country’s sources. His father, the first notable of his village, was also a sculptor and musician at the Royal Palace in Cameroon. Hako was therefore raised surrounded by objects of initiation rites, from masks to statuettes and totems used by his father. Today, all of these elements can be found in Hako’s works. These sources of inspiration, meticulously inserted into his work, plunge us into the world of the individuals that fill the tales and praises of his ancestors, thus skirting the limit that separates profane and sacred. Hako also looks at the duality between long standing tradition and contemporaneity, inviting us to question the “ashes” of our past in order to draw, and above all redefine, our Africanity. Whether it is drawings, paintings, sculptures or any other artistic form, his approach and style are recognizable.