Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars Experimental, Volume 1

Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj blends photography, performance, and fashion in colorful portraits that offer insightful commentary on global capitalism. This three-channel video installation—which features musicians wearing ensembles designed by the artist and performing in front of colorful, heavily patterned textiles—invites visitors into Hajjaj’s realm, rife with startling visual and cultural juxtapositions.

Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars Experimental, Volume 1 comprises nine separately filmed performances by an international array of musicians: the London-based Moroccan musician Simo Lagnawi; percussionist and singer Helen Parker-Jayne Isibor of The Venus Bushfires, and Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor of Muslim hip-hop duo Poetic Pilgrimage, among others. Each performer plays in turn, creating a dynamic theater in the round. The performers—Hajjaj’s personal “rock stars”—are bedecked in outfits designed by the artist that mix traditional Moroccan fabrics and luxury brand clothing and shoes. This interweaving of traditional and contemporary elements creates a powerful dialogue between past and present, high fashion and vernacular style, and Moroccan craftsmanship and contemporary art. The installation brings to life the approach Hajjaj has explored in such celebrated photographic series as Kesh Angels.

Hajjaj was born in 1961 in Larache, Morocco, but has called London home since 1975. Influenced by London’s club, hip-hop, and reggae music scenes, as well as by his North African heritage, Hajjaj is entirely self-taught in his diverse practice. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is held in the collections of such institutions as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris; and Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunisia. The artist currently lives and works in London and Marrakesh, Morroco.

Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars Experimental, Volume 1 is organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts with help from Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York. The production of the work is generously supported by Rose Issa.

The Wexner Center receives general operating support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. Generous support is also provided by the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members.