Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Hassan Hajjaj artist

Hassan Hajjaj was born in the fishing village of Larache, Morocco in 1961 and immigrated to England with his mother and siblings at the age of 12, joining his father, who could not read or write, in London. Using photography, found objects and assemblage Hajjaj playfully reinterprets and represents images and symbols from his native Morocco. His photographs feature sitters in distinctive poses as well as traditional Moroccan fabrics and motifs, inexpensive materials from local markets, and counterfeit brand logos.

Born: 1961 Larache, Morocco

Year of Migration to the UK: 1973


Biography

Photographer and filmmaker, Hassan Hajjaj was born in the fishing village of Larache, Morocco in 1961. He immigrated to England with his mother and siblings at the age of 12, joining his father, who could not read or write, in London. Coming of age in London in the 1970s and 1980s, Hajjaj dropped out of secondary school and began selling flowers in Camden Market. He subsequently sold clothes, while also promoting underground club nights and working on film shoots and fashion shows, before launching his own streetwear label R.A.P in 1984. Hajjaj began to show his artwork in the mid-1990s, following a trip with his daughter to Morocco in 1993. Using photography, found objects and assemblage, Hajjaj playfully reinterprets and represents images and symbols from his native Morocco, subverting stereotypes and disabusing those who might be minded to make problematic assumptions about north African/Moroccan peoples and culture. Characterised by their bold colours and patterns, Hajjaj's photographs feature sitters in distinct poses, as well as traditional Moroccan fabrics and motifs, inexpensive materials from local markets, and counterfeit brand logos. In an interview with Vogue in 2020, he recalled feeling that Morocco was seen as an exotic backdrop and portrayed without the culture's full vibrancy. In The Arab Issue series, women pose like fashion models while wearing kaftans and jellabiyas that Hajjaj designed in the polka dots, camouflage, and animal prints which were fashionable at the time. Furthermore, Hajjaj mounts his photographs in customised frames that are contemporary reinterpretations of traditional Moroccan mosaic and tile motifs. Frames are made out of commercial products, including Coca-Cola cans, tyres, and food tins. His use of these materials has attracted comparisons with the Pop art aesthetic of Andy Warhol, which he subverts through his clothing line ‘Andy Wahloo’, meaning ‘I have nothing’ in Arabic. Aside from Pop Art, Hajjaj is also inspired by 1960s smalltown Moroccan photography studios, his patterned backdrops acknowledging the work of African photographers, Seydou Keïta, Sanlé Sory, and his idol, Malick Sidibé.


Many of Hajjaj's subjects are his close friends and long-time acquaintances, notably Karima, who is a henna artist, active in Marrakech, and whom he has photographed since 1998. In Kesh Angels (2010), one of his most well-known works, Karima and her friends pose on their motorbikes. Hajjaj worked again with Karima in the film Karima: A Day In The Life Of A Henna Girl, first screened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2015 and subsequently at the British Museum, London. The work, set in the bustling Jemaa el-Fnaa market square in Marrakech, which the artist refers to as ‘the University of Street Life’, follows Karima throughout her day. Hajjaj's emphasis on his subjects can also be seen in My Rock Stars (2011—ongoing), which consists of portraits of his idols. These include both his friends and well-known figures — the French photographer JR, the late French-Algerian musician Rachid Taha, Moroccan filmmaker Meryem Benm’Barek, and the American artist, Hank Willis Thomas, among others. ‘He loves the people around him, and that is a very endearing thing about Hassan,’ said Touria El Glaoui, founder of the 1-54 African Contemporary Art fair, which is presented annually in London, who adds that, ‘He has built this community and kept it over the years. And what’s amazing is that he hasn’t changed a bit' (Siddhartha Mitter, Hassan Hajjaj Turns Moroccan Clichés Into London Cool, New York Times, 9 October 2019).


In 2005 Hajjaj’s work was included in Fashion in Motion, an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and in 2009 he was shortlisted for the museum’s Jameel Prize. In 2017 Hajjaj held a solo exhibition at Somerset House, entitled La Caravane and in 2019 his work featured in a solo exhibition at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham, entitled The Path, as well as in the seminal group exhibition, curated by friend and fellow artist Zak Ové, GET UP, STAND UP NOW: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, also at Somerset House. Hassan Hajjaj lives and works in London, England, where he has a shop and studio in Shoreditch, and also in Marrakech, Morocco where he owns a riad (traditional courtyard house). His work is held in UK public collections including the British Museum and the V & A, London.

Related books

  • Charlotte Jansen, Inside Hassan Hajjaj’s Riad in the Heart of Marrakech, Elephant (13 March 2020)
  • Siddhartha Mitter, Hassan Hajjaj Turns Moroccan Clichés Into London Cool, The New York Times (9 October 2019)
  • Anna Sansom, Maison Marocaine: Hassan Hajjaj’s first solo retrospective, British Journal of Photography (7 October 2019)
  • Joseph Akel, African Spirits, Artforum (July 2019)
  • Fleur Macdonald, Hassan Hajjaj Make Marrakesh Go Pop, The Economist (25 October 2017)
  • Jenna Fite, My Rock Stars Experimental: Hassan Hajjaj Creates a Global Stage, National Geographic (2 September 2014)
  • Hassan Hajjaj, Photography, Fashion, Film, Design (Rose Issa Projects and Taymour Grahne Gallery, London, 2013)

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Jameel Prize, V & A (shortlisted artist)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • Hassan Hajjaj: The Path, Arnolfini (2021)
  • Hassan Hajjaj: The Path, New Art Exchange (2019)
  • GET UP STAND UP NOW!, Somerset House (2019)
  • Talisman in the Age of Difference, Stephen Friedman Gallery (2018)
  • Hyper Real, The Arts Club (2018)
  • Hassan Hajjaj: La Caravane, Somerset House, London (2017)
  • Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts (2017)
  • Karima: A Day in the Life of a Henna Girl, British Museum (2016)
  • Made you look: dandysm and black masculinity, The Photographers Gallery (2016)
  • Fashion Cities Africa, Brighton Museum (2016)
  • Making & Unmaking, Camden Arts Centre (2016)
  • True to Life?, New Photography from the Middle East, Birmingham Museum (2014)
  • Light from the Middle East, Victoria and Albert Museum (2012)
  • ReOrientations, Rose Issa Projects (2012)
  • #ComeTogether, Edge of Arabia (2012)
  • Play Ground, New Walk Museum and Art Gallery (2011)
  • Kesh Angels, Rose Issa Projects (2010)
  • Le Salon, The Chapter Gallery (2009)
  • Le Salon for the Jameel Prize, Victoria and Albert Museum (2009)
  • Dakka Marrakesh, Rose Issa Projects at Leighton House Museum (2008)
  • Social System, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange (2007)
  • Fashion in Motion Africa, Victoria and Albert Museum (2005)
  • Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery (2005)
  • Contemporary African Visual Arts, Painting & furniture, British Museum (2005)
  • Black British Style, clothing from 1950s till now, Victoria & Albert Museum (2004)
  Hassan Hajjaj
   
Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Hassan Hajjaj]

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Publications related to [Hassan Hajjaj] in the Ben Uri Library