- Artist or Maker
- Hassan Hajjaj
Morocco, Larache, born 1961, active London, United Kingdom and Marrakesh, Morocco - Title
- Gang of Kesh Part 2
- Date Made
- 2000
- Medium
- Chromogenic print with wood frame and car-paint tins
- Dimensions
- Image: 44 × 30 in. (111.8 × 76.2 cm)
Frame: 51 1/8 × 37 in. (129.8 × 94 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2014.176
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Contemporary
- Curatorial Notes
Inspired by the "henna girls" of Marrakesh, Gang of Kesh (from the series Kesh Angels) features subjects
dressed in an alternate reality of haute couture. They wear the traditional djellaba, head scarf, and veil, but
the garments are made entirely of modern fabrics with bold prints such as bright polka dots, camouflage
designs, or leopard spots. The young women are shown with their motorbikes, seemingly playing against
Western stereotypes of hijab attire and especially the veil as an instrument of disempowerment. These
"biker chicks" are clearly in full command of the powerful vehicles they ride.
Hassan Hajjaj was born in Larache, a small harbor town in northern Morocco. He moved to London as a
teenager, and now divides his time between that city and Marrakesh. Best known as a photographer,
Hajjaj depicts a globalized society where the margins of cultural identity—whether African, Arab, or
European—are continuously shifting and blurred. Here, as in many of his photographs, Hajjaj creates
frames incorporating Coke or Fanta cans or various other packaged goods often labelled in Arabic.
