New Art Exchange presents Hassan Hajjaj: The Path 6 April – 23 June 2019

A new solo exhibition featuring the latest works by Moroccan-British photographer Hassan Hajjaj entitled The Path will put you on a journey experiencing his unique travel photographs in exciting colours and stimulating settings.

My Rockstar Series featuring (from left) Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, 2017/1438 and Kamaal Williams,
2016/1437 by Hassan Hajjaj

Presented by the New Art Exchange - a contemporary arts space in Nottingham - The Path  will take place from 6 April to 23 June showing new works from the celebrated My Rock Stars series; a new collection of previously unseen travel photographs, In Between; new works from the Dakka Marrakchia series and a site-specific installation called Le Salon.   This exciting showcase will exhibit Hassan Hajjaj’s diverse wealth of work, curated by Ekow Eshun.

Dakka Marrakchia series - Dotted Peace, 2000/1421 by Hassan Hajjaj

Hajjaj’s work is characterised by an exuberant melee of colours, patterns, appropriated brand logos and everyday objects, such as the Sprite cans and tomato tins he works into his picture frames. Taking a view through an international lens, Hajjaj uses photography to present a unique and timely consideration of culture and identity in the modern, globalised world.

In the photography series Dakka Marrakchia, women pose like fashion models on the streets and rooftops of Marrakech while dressed in camouflage pattern kaftans and luxury print face veils. The portraits offer Hassan’s perception of Muslim women as dynamic and empowered.

My Rockstar Series featuring (from left) Rilene and Marc Hare, 2013/1434 by Hassan Hajjaj

The Path confronts Hajjaj’s dual-identity through the bold use of colour, shape and pattern. The exhibition title references Hajjaj’s personal journey from his birthplace in Larache, Morocco, to London, UK and beyond, into his experience working around the world.  The showcase draws inspiration from the album The Path by the jazz-fusion musician Ralph MacDonald, which pays artistic testament to the diasporic scattering of people of African descent around the globe, a common theme in Hajjaj’s practice.

(Above: Between series (from left): Neon In The Night, 2011/1432 and Chanel Back, 2010/1431
by Hassan Hajjaj)

Much of Hajjaj’s work focuses on figures whose family origins mostly lie abroad, in Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East or elsewhere. Through this theme, Hajjaj conjures a vision of a society united, not divided, by difference.  At a time of major conflict within Britain, Hajjaj’s portraits make an urgent, timely case in favour of hybridity and multiculturalism. In his images, cultural identity is seen as fluid and multiple rather than fixed and singular.

From left: Laroussa table, 2009/1430 and Astral bucket stool, 2002/1423 by Hassan Hajjaj

At NAE Hajjaj turns his focus to British personalities, concentrating primarily on figures such as the painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, jazz musician Kamaal Williams and the shoe designer Marc Hare. As always, his subjects hail from a range of cultural backgrounds creating, in composite, a portrait of Britain at its most dynamically diverse.