Nisrin

Through his photography, Hassan Hajjaj creates a unique transcultural mix of the traditional and cutting edge, the East and West, and the local and global. Nisrin depicts a young woman who works as a henna tattoo artist and travels through the streets of Marrakesh on a motorbike. Her green and white djellabah, a traditional robe typically worn in Northern Africa, was custom-made by Hajjaj from the scarves of a local soccer club. The photograph’s frame is adorned with mass-produced Pepsi cans labeled in Arabic. These materials create vibrant patterns that reference Moroccan mosaics and fabrics, as well as modern commercial imagery recognized around the globe. Hajjaj seeks to challenge preconceived notions of the Arab world, and, more specifically, what it means to be a woman in this context.