Hothouse

Watch Vimy-Ridge

Damien Mikkel Hess comes to us courtesy of Cooper Creek unincorporated, born and raised amidst the Big Rock Candy Mountains; where wildcat milk runs in streams, the cowpies all tell time, the thistles are organic, and the lumberjacks practise mime.

Damien majored in animation, completing his Bachelor of Media Arts with the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. During his studies, his collaborations included a public service announcement for the British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.

“Country mouse” beginnings continue to influence the content of his “city mouse” works and the lens through which he views the world. Damien’s themes are rooted in aging and memory, renewal and sacrifice, nature and myth. In the face of global corporate homogenization, Damien strives for meaning in the everyday and is passionate about the preservation of vanishing skills and knowledge.

From the sawmills of the Kootenay to the art schools of Vancouver, from the hurricanes of Halifax to the mining camps of the Northwest Territories, Damien has a breadth of experience as wide as the Trans-Canada highway. Though he claims to be from a good many places, for the moment, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories is his home. His one true love, occasionally unrequited, is animation.