Moroccan stylist and photographer Hassan Hajjaj goes pop in The Future of Fashion Show Holland

Khadija Lagnawia, 2013

Metallic Lambda print on Dibond with wood and found objects, 52.5 x 37 in. Courtesy of the artist and GUSFORD | los angeles

Summer may be on the wane but these bold bright portraits should cheer you up. Thanks to record producer and DJ Mark Moore for pointing me to this recent article on The Huffington Post about 53-year-old multidisciplinary artist Hassan Hajjaj who was born in Morocco and “moved to London in his teens, at the height of the punk craze”.

“For the last 15 years, he’s joined the two cultures, splitting his time between Marrakech and London as he turns out densely textured portrait photography that plays well in the West but requires North African artistry to even exist at all… His subjects are his current friends, who pose and dress in ways that translate into arresting hybrid art.” The Huffington Post

His flamboyant Pop-Up Pop-Art portraits combine elements of the traditional studio portrait with African-inspired textiles and props made from domestic and recycled bottles, tins and packets of food. Hajjaj is a self-taught artist, influenced by hip-hop, reggae and the club scene.

V.B.F., 2013

Metallic Lambda print on Dibond with wood and found objects, 35.5 x 25.5 in. Courtesy of the artist and GUSFORD | los angeles

His work can be seen in the upcoming The Future of Fashion is Now exhibition on show from 11 October 2014 to 18 January 2015 at Museum Boijman Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “The exhibition examines the critical stance that young fashion designers worldwide are adopting with regard to ‘the fashion system’ and the role of clothes in contemporary society. Designers with non-Western backgrounds and designers from countries bordering Europe, where until recently there was little or no tradition of fashion, are actively seeking to transform the fashion system.” From Taymour Grahne Gallery website

Mr J. James, 2013

Metallic Lambda print on Dibond with wood and found objects, 36.5 x 25 in. Courtesy of the artist and GUSFORD | los angeles.

Photo News – Three days left to make a pledge for Tal Shpantzer’s crowdfunded The Petal Project

All images © Tal Shpantzer 2014

“Reinforcing the relationship between natural forms, underlines the essential inter connectivity of all beings.” Tal Shpantzer

After a long break, a time for some R ‘n’ R, I wanted to let you know about a crowdfunded project The Petal Project by Tal Shpantzer. The Petal Project is an ongoing portrait photography series shot in Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY studio, from 2010 to present. Tal has set up a crowdfunded campaign to make this record into a first edition printed photo book with a run of 500 copies and it has just three days to go (2 July).

Tal Shpantzer is a fine art portrait and fashion photographer who says of the work: “I am captivated by the dialogues that emerge through each woman and petal portrait. A raw and unpretentious moment can reveal complexities, evoke imagined histories, and hidden truths.”

“The project began with a portrait of a friend. Exhibiting this first Petal Portrait in a Chelsea gallery, people immediately responded to the provocative expression of femininity, inner power, fragility, strength and sensuality I was able to capture between woman & petal. I decided to continue with a series, restaging that initial photo with different women and flowers.

“I began photographing women around me that I found inspiring: friends, family, colleagues.  As the project grew, a mosaic emerged; an increasingly dynamic and diverse group of women brought their individually unique presence to each sitting creating a rich and complex dialog… Each Petal Portrait has been an empowering and collaborative experience. ”

The series is rooted in her own experience with the reconfiguration of personal memory after a yearlong period of amnesia. Her work in photography and image-making has been published and exhibited nationally and internationally, and featured in HBO, MTV, TOPMAN Generation Magazine, Rolling Stone, Italian Vogue, Creem, Kid- In & W Magazine. The Petal Project has been chosen to be in the Saatchi online Curated Collection. You can find out more on her indiegogo website page The Petal Project.

Fraubraun’s playful take on fashion photography

Fashion has always had an important relationship with photography and fashion photography is a genre in its own right. If you’re in London on Sunday, you can get a taste of both, courtesy of Fraubraun who have added a twist to how clothes and models are photographed. The individual pieces in Fraubraun’s online catalogue “are modelled by real women who take their own photographs with the help of a cable release”. The idea is to “create a playful scenario for each model to freely translate the mood and feel of the garment and to combine this with their distinct personal style”. Stefanie Braun, a long time collector of vintage clothing, has sourced the garments which range from the 1930s to the modern era.

Photo credit: © Stefanie Braun modelling a 1950s silk jacket, 2009