Born in Port-au-prince Haiti, Jean-Ulrick Désert received his degrees at Cooper Union and Columbia University (New York). He has lived in Paris and currently works in Berlin. Désert has lectured and been invited as critic at Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Humboldt University and l'école supérieur des beaux arts. 
Désert's visual-art spans many mediums and methods. Emerging from a tradition of conceptual-work engaged with social/cultural practices, his artworks vary in forms such as billboards, actions, paintings, site-specific sculptures, video and objects. Known for his "Negerhosen2000" and his provocative "Burqa Project", Désert often combines cultural iconographies and historical metaphor to disrupt, alter and shift pre-supposed meaning. He has said his practice may be characterized as visualizing "conspicuous invisibility". Désert has exhibited widely at such venues as The Brooklyn Museum, Cité Internationale des Arts, The NGBK in galleries and public venues in Munich, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Ghent, Brussels.
 He is the recipient of awards, public commissions, private philanthropy, including LMCC, Villa Waldberta/Muenchen-kulturreferat and Cité des Arts (France).
 Désert represented Haiti and Germany in the 2009 Havana Biennial