Hassan Hajjaj

Hassan Hajjaj’s portraits marry Western pop culture with his Moroccan heritage. The brightly coloured, intensely patterned works pair motifs from fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and Nike with traditional North African textiles. His trademark style, inspired by Malian photographers such as Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keïta, is translated across installation, video, performance and furniture design. At the age of twelve in 1973, Hajjaj moved from Morocco to London and quickly became inspired by the city’s subcultures - particularly the reggae scene. In the 80s, he began his career as a photographer and launched his own fashion brand. Hajjaj calls the friends and contemporaries who he photographs “rock stars.”

Hajjaj’s use of consumerist emblems has seen him dubbed the ‘Andy Warhol of Marrakech.’ However, he criticises this label saying, “it’s really a label that the West has given me, because the West controls the art world. We have to fight extra hard as non-Western artists because of these labels.” So instead of being an ode to Western Pop art - as they’re often interpreted - the use of Coca-Cola cans and tinned food in works like Zezo Tamsamani (2011/1432) and Hindi Rocking (2013/1434) represent symbols of wealth and consumption from the artist’s own childhood. Much like his own experience of migrating from Morocco to the United Kingdom, Hajjaj sees the journeys of these objects as signifiers for migration, trade, globalisation and shape-shifting cultural identities.