London-based artist, Hassan Hajjaj, was born in Morocco and his works span the artist realm working in furniture design, fashion, photography, as well as album-cover design. Splitting his time between Marrakesh and London his artist focus becomes this collaboration between Eastern and Western cultures.

He was featured earlier this year in The New York Times for his photographic series Kesh Angels featuring Moroccan women in Marrakesh who work as henna tattoo artists and ride motocycles. Each image adds a capitalistic element of popular brand names and logos on their traditional garb, blending his two cultures together.

Yet, his first solo show in the United States featured his series My Rock Stars: Volume 2. With his friends as subjects, the series tackles our Western notion of the rock star mentality. Hajjaj employed local artisans to manufacture the clothing used in his series. The regional fabrics, similar to the Kesh Angels series, create incredibly vibrant and captivating images.

Each photo is framed with a repetitive mosaic of products with Arabic script. Their purpose, according to an article written by the Huffington Post, “…is multidimensional…they reinforce not only the theme of global commerce, but a thoroughly Moroccan habit: to recycle items out of necessity.”

The images are Metallic Lambda prints on Dibond aluminum composite material with wood and found objects.

Information courtesy of the Huffington Post and The New York Times

Photography courtesy of © Hassan Hajjaj and GUSFORD | Los Angeles