Dubai: In early February this year, Moroccan contemporary artist and photographer Hassan Hajjaj was reminded just how high his star has risen. Within days of each other, Hajjaj launched shows in the US, Morocco and – as part of the AlUla Arts Festival – Saudi Arabia.
Hajjaj’s playful illustration, which incorporates vivid colors, funky clothes (almost all of which he designs himself), geometric patterns and – often – vintage brands from the MENA region, has made him popular internationally, and his instant His recognizable style has established him as one of the world’s leading photographers.
His show in AlUla included photographs he shot in the ancient oasis city in February 2023. That trip was initially supposed to involve a shoot with about 20 local people. He has done this type of work many times before, including in Oman and Abu Dhabi. “It’s always a good opportunity to get to know the culture and the people,” Hajjaj told Arab News.
But, as he says himself, he arrived in AlUla as “an outsider”, so he needed a team on the ground to convince the locals to come and sit (or in most cases stand) for him. Was.
“In the beginning, it was a little difficult for them to find people,” says Hajjaj. “But because it was during the period when a lot of art-related things were happening in AlUla, a lot of people from outside AlUla were coming as well. So we opened it. I basically said, ‘Just come.’
“In the end a lot of people came, not only the locals – people from Riyadh, Jeddah, and also (from abroad). I think I shot about 100 people in a few days. So it was a great opportunity,” he adds. “To shoot so many people in three days – it could take a year for me to organize something like that. So, as long as I have the energy, when I get these opportunities – you know, I’m with this eclectic group of people in AlUla – I’ll go and grind it out, work really hard, and enjoy the moment. .
Of course, the Hassan Hajjaj shoot is not your regular portrait shoot. “It’s almost like a performance,” he says. “There’s music, people dress up, it’s like a day out for them that lets them get away from themselves for a few hours.”
He adopted the same method in AlUla also. “We’re getting an atmosphere. It was fun, there was music… I shot in this beautiful old school, which was one of the first girls’ schools in Saudi Arabia from the sixties. The upstairs was like a museum – everything was stuck from the seventies and eighties; Even the blackboard had chalk and writing from that time,” he says.
Alicia and Swizz. (supply)
An important part of Hajjaj’s practice is to make sure his subjects are comfortable and feel some connection with him (“comfortable” is a word he uses several times when talking about his shoots). While all of his illustrations reflect his clearly defined style, it is important to him that they also show something unique to people.
“You know, there’s this old thing about capturing the emotion of the person in that moment? I’m trying to bring their personality and body language into the image,” he says. “Often I’m shooting outside, on the street, so (the subject) can start to see other people, think , ‘Are they looking at me?’ So I usually say, ‘Listen. This is a platform that I am building for you. I’m dressing you up, and we’ll have fun.’ Then I just try to find that personality that can come through and make the image strong. However, some people say it doesn’t get any better than just getting on with it. I try to be invisible, so it’s the camera doing the work, not the person. The best photographs come when there is a comfortable moment between me, the person and the camera.”
He has worked this way from the beginning – a process that evolved naturally, as most of his early portraits were of “friends or friends of friends”.
Installation view. (AlUla Arts)
“There’s a comfort in it because you have a relationship with them. That made it easier,” he says. “And it taught me how important it is to build trust with people to get into that comfort zone. But as time went on, obviously, people could see the stuff in the press or on social media, so people started asking to be shot that way; Maybe they’ve studied certain people’s poses and things like that, so they come prepared to do certain poses that they’ve seen in my photos. This is quite ridiculous.”
Hajjaj’s work on display over the past two months at “AlUla 1445” is a perfect example of what he tries to achieve with his shoots. The images are vibrant, playful and soulful, and the subjects run the gamut from a local cowboy through the AlUla football team to genuine superstars: American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz.
Hajjaj says he has several favorites “for different reasons”, including Cowboy.
AlUla FC (supplied)
“He brought two goats and when you put them all together it became quite abstract. I was playing with that notion of the individual; You can see that this is his life and even the goats look happy,” he explains. “I wanted to ensure that his image had the same sparkle. “I got some great shots from him.”
The Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz shoot has been a long time in the making. Hajjaj first met Swizz Beatz a decade ago and they have been in touch intermittently since. The idea of shooting with Keys first came up about five years ago, but logistics always got in the way. But since they were playing a concert in AlUla at the same time as Hajjaj was there, it ultimately happened on the last day of Hajjaj, with maybe an hour left before the lights went down.
I ask Hajjaj if his approach to shooting celebrities is different from shooting shots of “normal” people.
hand on heart. (supply)
“There’s probably not that much of a difference,” he says. “They’re coming into my world, so, again, it’s just making sure they’re comfortable with you and you’re comfortable with them; Not seeing him (as a celebrity). The only thing is that you have to imagine that they have been shot thousands of times – even by top photographers – so they are in their own way. So I just have to stay close with them and find that comfortable spot between the sitter and me.
And then there is Ghadi al-Sharif.
“It is a beautiful picture. He has this smile, he has his hands on his face. To me, he really represents the light and energy of AlUla,” says Hajjaj. “It attracts the new generation.”