Hassan Hajjaj is a self-taught and versatile artist who works with portraiture, performance, installation, fashion and interior design, including furniture made from recycled objects. His stunning portraits of friends and musicians are deeply influenced by the hip-hop and reggae scenes of London (where he moved with this family at an early age) and by his North African origins (he was born in Morocco). On the one hand, the inspiration from fashion photography and pop art, on the other the lesson of Malick Sidibè and Seydou Keita, the most significative photographers of African continent of Twentieth century. The performers, dressed in traditional fabrics mixed with contemporary mood, often wear clothes he has designed, standing in a patchwork of patterns and shapes. His incredible colourful and vibrant portraits are often framed with found objects (cans of Coca Cola, Fanta, tins or boxes of chicken stock), creating repetitive patterns to evoke the mosaic of Morocco in a modern context and capturing the eye of the viewers.

– Rica Cerbarano