Reimagining African Culture Through Digital Art: Hiraeth Made it

Haziel is a 22 year old digital artist whose journey with art began as a moment of childhood competition, which quickly grew into a passion that has carried him through years of refining his craft.

Haziel found himself drawn to exploration, working with shapes, textures and eventually patterns to build a personal visual language grounded in a love for community and African culture. Rather than preserving culture in a static form, his work reimagines it by inviting viewers to engage with it in new ways.

Can you Introduce Yourself and Tell me how You Got into Art?

My name is Haziel. I’m 22. I’ve been making art since I was a kid. I think I started drawing when I was 11. I remember one time my nephews came over, and one of them drew Superman. Everyone was praising him, and I was like, I can do that. I can probably do that better. So I took a pencil and paper and I drew it and from then, I became obsessed with art. In 2022, I picked up graphic design. I wasn’t getting clients, so I started experimenting with shapes and creating things that didn’t follow the rules of art. It just went crazy from there, and I kept improving up to where I am now.

How has Your work Evolved Overtime?

When I started, I was focusing only on portraits. But I started going out more, and I began to obsess over scenes, which are images that give a story. So I expanded from portraits to creating environments.

Even now, as much as I still make portraits, I try my best to remove identity from my artwork. I don’t believe in identity belonging to one person. My inspiration comes from groups of people and different tribes in Africa.Their history, the wars they fought, the traditions they’ve changed. That’s what inspires me.

I focus on the community as a collective. I believe no man is an island. Seeing people come together to create something is what inspires me.

What does “No Man is an Island” mean to You?

My mum used to say it to me, especially when I did something she wasn’t happy with. She would sit me down and explain that I shouldn’t just focus on myself. If I only do things that benefit me, I can’t then expect help from others when I need it. I need to understand that I can’t do everything by myself. You always need someone’s perspective or assistance.

How do You Blend different Eras of African Culture into Your Work?

I have an obsession with patterns. I could spend my entire day looking at them, and I also like creating my own. When I went into African patterns like Adire, I realised I really liked them. At first, my work was more modern with things like t-shirts with grills and chains. But I realised the foundation of what I do is about Black people and Afro culture.

So I thought, why not bring inspiration from my roots, Nigeria and Ghana and create something that brings two different eras together? The era of our ancestors and our current era. It’s not necessarily something new, just a combination of the same culture across different times.

How do African Patterns and Textures Influence Your Work?

I love fashion, bright colours and patterns that tell a story. Even things like tiles-you might see patterns that, depending on how you look at them, form faces or birds.

I like that idea of images forming from random lines. When I started, I focused more on textures. But later I realised I could incorporate patterns to make the work more visually appealing. Textures are nice, but textures with patterns are better.

Do You see Your Work as Preserving Culture or Reimagining it?

Preservation feels like keeping something to yourself without sharing it. I feel like culture needs to be flaunted and appreciated, regardless of who is appreciating it. When people keep culture to themselves in the name of preservation, it doesn't make sense to me. So my art is about reimagining culture by pushing boundaries and ignoring rules.

My style doesn't follow rules anyway. It's about showing what can happen when different eras come together.

Do You do a Lot of Research into History?

Yeah, a lot of research actually. If I want to use a particular pattern, I research who made it and how it came to be. The colours I use are mostly primary colours, red, blue and yellow. Red for blood, blue for our skies, and yellow for gold. I try to create something where, when someone looks at it, they feel like it’s inspiring.

Do You Actively Seek Inspiration or go with the Flow when Creating?

Sometimes I scroll through Pinterest, Instagram, or TikTok, looking for editorial images that already tell a story and I try to mould that into something different.

Other times, inspiration just hits me. For example, my Apollo piece-I was watching a movie and thought about of idea, created the composition, then finished it later.

Another way is through researching patterns tand imagining how they could look on clothing or in a scene, then building something from that. Sometimes I have an idea and I follow it, but then I realise I don’t like it, so I just do whatever comes to mind.