Inspiration: Formal African Portrait Photography

In the early 1990’s in London when clubbing and hanging out was a favorite pass time I met a young Moroccan born man called Hassan Hajjaj. We were connected through a network of artists, DJ’s, musicians and designers and he was always at the hub.

He was making furniture and interior products using recycled Moroccan packaging – soda cans, oil drums and densely patterned fabrics. I came to love these objects and work similar to this returned to my life later but this time coming out of South Africa (we’ll touch on that another time).

Hassan moved on to photography and is now internationally recognized for his vibrant portraits, whom he calls his “rock stars”.

We were fortunate last month to meet him again after 20 years and see his collection of Kesh Angels in an exhibition in NYC.

Hassan01

In 1998 in London I purchased a German book called “Snap Me One” published by Prestel. It’s a photography book that documents various artists work from Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Kenya.

Philip Kwame Apagya‘s photos particularly make me smile; he shoots his subjects against hand painted back drops often interacting with the painted objects – a fridge, stereo or airplane. The naivety of the painting is charming and yet the 3 dimensionality of the rooms makes it almost appear convincing.

Finally, the work of Seydou Keita from Mali which has always brought me joy. His subjects are depicted with such pride clothed in beautiful traditional clothing using props that Seydou provided – European watches, pens and radios.