Moroccan Photographer Hassan Hajjaj Debuts ’My Rockstars’ Series in NYC Gallery

The exhibition of the New York premiere of Hassan Hajjaj’s My Rockstars series at the Yossi Milo Gallery runs from March 25 to Saturday, May 29. The gallery is open until 8:00 pm (local time). For this artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, the Moroccan photographer has pulled out all the stops. In his My Rockstars series, he pays tribute to the people who have artistically inspired him, says Yossi Milo Gallery on its website. He has captured a range of international performers, recording artists and visual artists such as Hank Willis Thomas, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Cardi B., as well as lesser-known music groups like the Arfoud Brothers and Nigerian singer-songwriter Keziah Jones.

He began photographing these characters in 2000. He worked in ephemeral colorful studios built from textiles and plastic mats typical of Morocco and North Africa, which he sets up on the streets of London, Marrakech, Dubai, Kuwait and Paris. Hassan Hajjaj shines through his professionalism. Each portrait is framed in a custom-made artisanal frame equipped with miniature shelves and actual consumer products, such as tomato sauce cans, car paint cans and soda cans, often with Arabic logos, it is described. The choice of products is based on their origins, names, contents as well as their colors and aesthetics.

Drawing on the tradition of early African photographers such as the Cameroonian Samuel Fosso, the Malian Malick Sidibé and the Burkinabe Sanlé Sory, the one considered the pioneer of Moroccan pop art expresses evolving notions of self and society in today’s modern and globalized world through his works. "In the studio space, Hajjaj captures the international nature of today’s popular culture, fashion and music," it is stated.