Bio

Habacuc S. Bessiake (b. 1999) is a Detroit-based mixed-media artist, curator and educator. Number 6 of 9 children born to immigrant parents who traveled to the US from Côté d'Ivoire in 1993. He earned a BFA from the College for Creative Studies in 2021. He has shown his work in a solo exhibition at Harper Galleries of Art - Detroit and an array of group exhibitions displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit Historical Museum, Gallery Nucleus - Portland, Oregon, and New York with Deviate Fashion in their “Detroit to New York Showcase,” which was featured in The New York Times.

Artist Statement

My practice is a continuous attempt to pull at the ribbons wrapped around the gift of life, its lessons, and secrets. One of the defining features differentiating homosapiens from other living beings is our ability to contemplate fiction; this odd ability to meddle with the unseen, untouched, and unheard enables us the mass collaboration it takes to build cultures and civilizations. It’s fascinating that the myths we tell each other unveil the truth we believe. That is what my work explores: the truth in fiction.

West African masks, folktales, and attire deeply inspire me. My well is continuously filled by the beautiful people and culture that has bred from having dark skin in America. My creation process takes lessons from my upbringing watching Asian animation and American films. I treat every piece like a film. The concept is the script. Depending on this concept, I choose my materials.  While some scenes require loose watercolors and a soft brush, others call for chalky pastels on torn textured paper. I get to be the cinematographer, the lighting crew, the makeup artist, the director, and the actors. My time in the studio is spent experimenting until the scene rings true. 

I am called to create when I am struck with curiosity for either an intellectual or visual concept that has the potential to unveil a life lesson for myself and the prospective curious viewer. Intellectual questions I explore in my work are: what does it mean to “know” something? What is the significance of the state of ignorance and innocence? What does motion look like in a still image? How can patterns describe form like atoms describe organisms in the world? What does an African proverb look like? How and why do we derive meaning from life? 

Email: hsbessiake@gmail.com

Phone: 313-740-3773

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