I am Ako son of Eyong, and I am a "life loving" Cameroonian who was born with the precious gift of art, something that I have always done for as long as I can remember.

 

In 1996, I obtained a bachelor's degree in history, an event that spurred me into "the serious business of making a living". But there were no jobs because the economy was in shambles. You see, Cameroon was, and still is, under the strangle hold of a very corrupt dictatorship that is propped up by foreign imperialistic exploiters. And this situation is sucking the economy dry.

 

Bieng an 'artiste' I turned to my gift, taking up cartooning, and I soon became the inhouse cartoonist of my country's biggest, privately owned, english speaking paper, The Post. In a country where freedom of expression is tightly regulated, publicly criticising government policy comes with an amount of risk. Needless to say the authorities did not find my cartoons to be funny. Today i live in the United States as a political exile, where I am still an artist. 

 

I have had shows in different countries and on different continents, I have done countless murals, I have done commisioned illustrations and paintings, illustrations for books and magazines, logos, and much more.  

 

In 2013 I published my first novel. The book, titled, THE VISION OF THE BLIND KING, has since won an award and has been nominated for another award.  It can be found on amazon. 

 

I have spoken about my work at Coconino college, Klamath college, Ventura college, Oxnard college, Pepperdine campus, Ventura chapter of amnesty international, Unitarian universalist, just to name a few.

 

My purpose as an artist is to interprete and express the rich traffic of thought, emotion and ideas that are constantly flowing through my mind. Sometimes this expresiion will include factors that constitute a threat to life as we know it. I do this to highlight the contrast between constructive and destructive human behavior, which is ussually at the cost of our planet. I am of the belief that art is a huge pillar within the framework of global conscience.

 

It is interesting that when these inspiring ideas come to me they bring along a preference(depending on their nature) as to the choice of artistic medium in which they see themselves most effectively portrayed. Some ideas want to be painted or written, while others need to be spoken, sung, sculpted, etc.

That is the reason why I am a painter, writer, speaker, sculptor, drawer,  among other things, and I love it! This website is just a tool to bring it all to you.