In conversation with Hassan Hajjaj and Rose Issa

23 Feb 2024 7-8pm

Overview

Join Rose Issa in conversation with this year’s In Focus Photographer for the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, Hassan Hajjaj.

In this special in-conversation, the pair will discuss the importance of embedding Moroccan traditions into UK culture and the London art scene, from the 1980s to today. Hear more about photography and the arts, as Hassan shares more about his early career, his personal link to the people he photographs, and his strong link to the creative arts and the music scenes.

Hassan Hajjaj, a Moroccan-British artist, is renowned for his captivating and vibrant works that merge contemporary art, fashion, and cultural identity. Born in 1961 in Larache, Morocco, he moved to London following his family at the age of 12 in the 1970s. Hajjaj's diverse background greatly influences his art, which reflects a fusion of North African tradition and Western popular culture. Using vibrant colors, bold patterns, and found objects, Hajjaj expertly blends his Moroccan and London roots through fashion but also consumer products, resulting in visually striking and culturally rich compositions. His subjects are often friends, musicians, artists in the widest sense, and everyday people, whom he photographs in carefully constructed settings filled with a kaleidoscope of colors. By incorporating elements of pop art, street culture, and fashion, Hajjaj challenges conventional notions of identity and cultural representation.

Rose Issa is a curator, writer and publisher specialised in visual arts and film from the Arab world and Iran.

About this event:
This event will take place at the National Portrait Gallery and will also be livestreamed to watch online.

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