Bakpak Durden, born and raised in Detroit, is a self-taught interdisciplinary fine artist. Pulling from various figurative art techniques, Durden employs a wide range of mediums—oil and acrylic paint, graphite and fine art photography —to construct their hyperrealistic and conceptual works of art.Durden’s artworks illuminate the complexity and precarity of human emotion and identity by meticulously examining their own. Bakpak most recently displayed their work locally with Playground Detroit and nationally with Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia. Durden has completed a number of murals locally and nationally, culminating in a collaborative all Black artist mural in Denver, CO as part of Crush Walls 2020. And a recent contributor to the GUCCI VS. EVERYBODY campaign, in collaboration with the Vs Everybody brand and Gucci in conjunction with Gucci Changemakers at the start of 2021. They are a recent recipient of the Playground Detroit 20/20 Emerging Artists Fellowship, the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation Grant, and producing a limited edition print in response to their artist residency with The Jaunt Summer Camp at Camp Wandawega. Bakpak is focused on continuing their work within their communities, highlighting black trans and queer visibility in addition to mental health, neurodiversity and disability advocacy/representation as a Detroiter in its robust art scene.