Hassan Hajjaj
Mixed media, W-76cm x L- 33.40
Signed [With Frame]
Minimum Price: £500
Auction Ref – #2
Artist Spotlight: Hassan Hajjaj
Hassan Hajjaj (b. 1961, Larache, Morocco) is a self-taught photographer, designer, filmmaker and visual provocateur whose work fuses the colours, materials and rhythms of Moroccan everyday life with the swagger of London street culture. Moving to London at age 12, he was shaped by the emerging club, reggae, hip-hop scenes of the 70s and 80s, but also by a longing to reclaim and re-vision the visual identity of his homeland. Launching his street-wear label R.A.P (“Real Artistic People”) in 1984 and later founding Andy Wahloo, he built a practice grounded in fashion, found objects, vivid patterns, and portraiture that echoes both the kitsch of pop art and indigenous studio portraits.
Hajjaj’s photographs and installations challenge stereotypes and reconfigure cultural dialogue: ordinary people become icons, veiled women ride motorbikes in neon kaftans, frames are made from soda cans, food tins or street-wares, backdrops from souks and markets. His series like Kesh Angels, My Rock Stars, Vogue: The Arab Issue and his first film Karima: A Day in the Life of a Henna Girl draw out hybridity, humour, resilience and beauty. Living and working between London and Marrakech, his art reminds us that identity is never fixed — it’s stitched, scavenged, worn with pride, and always in motion.