Hassan Hajjaj

Hassan Hajjaj was born in Larache, Morocco, in 1961. He left Morocco for London at an early age. Hajjaj is a self-taught and thoroughly versatile Artist whose work includes portraiture, installation, performance, fashion, and interior design, including furniture made from recycled utilitarian objects from North Africa. Turning to photography in the late 80s, Hajjaj is a master portraitist, taking studio portraits of friends, musicians, and artists, as well as strangers from the streets of Marrakech, often wearing clothes designed by the artist.  Hajjaj’s photography is based on taking photographs of women wearing a veil (face cover) and revealing certain parts of the face, mainly the eyes. Hajjaj’s images are vibrant, bright and modern with an element of fun and his photographs include a variety of colourful, lively and interesting patterns.

I really like this image because this woman is wearing a scarf (hijab), which has bright colours and has different patterns. The woman is winking because I think that the photographer wants to make the image more interesting and more human.  It shows that Muslim women are fun and rebellious. She also uses the veil to cover her face because in Islam, women have to cover their beauty. The composition of this photograph is very close-up with no background showing. It’s directly towards her maybe in natural sunlight rather than flash. The way the image relates to my idea is that the picture is of a woman wearing a hijab, which is the dress code for women in Islam. As mentioned earlier, the media does not always portray Islam in a good way. This image shows that Muslim women can be fun and joyful, hence, the religion being peaceful. Kesh Angels – Wink, 2010, metallic Lambda.

1st Response of Hassan Hajjaj

This photograph is a response to the photographer Hassan Hajjaj. I have taken this photograph in the studio with the white drop background. This model is wearing a bright pink hijab with the black and white patterned scarf covering half of her face (veil). Also she’s wearing pink nail varnish, which matches the scarf. She’s wearing a big retro groovy coloured bracelet in her left arm to make it more modern and interesting. She has put her hand on her face and opens her fingers to make it more effective to let the check scarf show through. I have edited this Photoshop to cut around the woman. I have chosen green paint for the background and then I cut out the frame from Hassan Hajjaj’s work. This photograph is posed and when I look at this image it makes me think that Muslims are fun and realistic. 

In order to improve this image I will take photographs of intricate designed frames and incorporate those images instead of using the black heavy frame which I have taken from Hassan Hajjaj’s frames.

This photograph I think is poking fun at the media portrayal of what the terrorist looks like and how they dress. It shows me that this lady is proud of her faith. To improve this photograph I would use different frames rather than from the internet.

 

This image is taken in the studio. The vibrant colourful chunky bangle on both arms on a black top creates a focal point. Using two different shades of pink in both the hijab and background also emphasises the bangles. Also she wears natural makeup especially the eye makeup. After that, I had edited this photograph. I have cut it around the women’s face and then put the pink paint in the background. This image is posed and taken eye-level she put her hand over her ears almost saying that I'm not listening to bad media coverage.

 This model is wearing the white hijab (scarf) with the Syrian flag. I use Syrian flag because it’s a Muslim country. This image uses bold, balanced colours to enchance the white hijab. I used this image in Photoshop to cut the faces out and then I put the blue paint in the background to make it more interesting trying to manipulate the feel of the image giving it a dramatic shocking feel. For the improvements, I will not copying the frame from someone’s work and I will take photographs of my own frames. This image is strong and vibrant and full of energy.

2nd Response of Hassan Hajjaj

I made the improvements on the picture frame and included a brightly coloured scarf. I had taken my own mirror frame and then I edited this. I incorporated the photo of the women into the frame and modified and enhanced this by using effects such as brightness/contrast, curve. This image is much better than my 1st response because it's bright and vibrant. I tried to give the image a diferent atmosphere from my first response.