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Famous Moroccan photographer Hassan Hajjaj is exhibiting his My Rockstars series for the first time at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. Breathtaking portraits.
The New York premiere of Hassan Hajjaj’s My Rockstars series at Yossi Milo Gallery runs from March 25 through Saturday May 29. The gallery is open until 8:00 p.m. (local time). For this first solo exhibition of the artist at the gallery, the Moroccan photographer has gone all out. In his My Rockstars series, he pays tribute to the people from whom he was artistically inspired, Yossi Milo Gallery says on his site. He has captured an array of international performers, record and visual artists such as Hank Willis Thomas, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Cardi B., as well as lesser-known music groups like Arfoud Brothers and the Nigerian songwriter-performer Keziah Jones.
He started photographing these characters in 2000. He worked in colorful ephemeral studios built from textiles and plastic mats typical of Morocco and North Africa, which he installed in the streets of London, Marrakech, Dubai, Kuwait and Paris. Hassan Hajjaj shines with professionalism. Each portrait is lined with a custom handcrafted frame fitted with miniature shelves and actual consumer goods, such as cans of tomato sauce, cans of car paint, and soda cans, often with Arabic logos. The choice of products is made according to their origins, their names, their content as well as their colors and aesthetics.
Drawing on the tradition of former African photographers such as Cameroonian Samuel Fosso, Malian Malick Sidibé and Burkinabian Sanlé Sory, the one considered to be the pioneer of Moroccan pop art expresses evolving notions of self and society in the modern world and globalized today through his works. “In the studio space, Hajjaj captures the international nature of today’s popular culture, fashion and music,” he said.
