Artist Quote: “Photography wasn’t something I was trying to do or look for, it just happened. I remember doing my first show, and the gallery introduced me as their artist and I remember going, ‘I’m not an artist!’ because I didn’t think I was worthy to have that title. I didn’t know if it would just last a minute in my life. It took me a good three years after the first show to forcibly be able to say, ‘I’m an artist’." Achievements: Hajjaj is a highly in-demand photographer for pop celebrities like Billie Eilish, Madonna, Will Smith, Cardi B, and more. Today, Hajjaj’s works are held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Lazaar Foundation in Tunisia, among others. Hajjaj was the winner of the 2011 Sovereign Middle East and African Art Prize and was shortlisted for Victoria & Albert Museum's Jameel Prize in 2009. | About the Artist: Hajjaj arrived in London in 1973 at age 12, with his mother and siblings, joining his father, a laborer who could not read or write. Hajjaj enjoyed taking photos, however, it took many years before he considered himself an artist. By the time he started showing his photography in galleries, in the mid-1990s, he had reconnected with Morocco, following a trip in 1993 to take his daughter to meet her relatives. He felt a need to photography everyday Moroccans. He makes portraits right on the street, taping onto the brick wall his flamboyant backdrops, and shooting in full view of passers-by. Hajjaj’s stylings — mixing camouflage, polka-dot, or animal prints with traditional fabrics from the souk; adding cheap plastic sunglasses shaped like hearts; printing Louis Vuitton logos onto the motorbike body — bring a sense of play that melds Moroccan heritage with a patchwork hip-hop swagger. He hires tailors and artisans to run up outfits for his subjects. And recently, he organized a gallery in his home town, where he shows works by less well known Moroccan photographers. |
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/arts/hassan-hajjaj.html
https://www.yossimilo.com/artists/hassan-hajjaj
http://www.artnet.com/artists/hassan-hajjaj/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/arts/hassan-hajjaj.html
https://www.yossimilo.com/artists/hassan-hajjaj
http://www.artnet.com/artists/hassan-hajjaj/