The Paris cultural calendar for fall 2019 is crammed with stellar exhibitions, concerts, opera, music, plays, and film.
The first must-see exhibition is Carte Blanche a Hassan Hajjaj at MEP/Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, a photography museum in the Marais.
Moroccan born artist Hassan Hajjaj, who lives between London and Morocco, was given carte blanche to fill the three-story museum with his imagery. The stunning photos are a bold, bright, and beautiful celebration of Moroccan people and their culture, style and spirit. The riot of color and texture is sometimes overwhelming in a good way, where I had to spend a long time looking at each image to capture its full intensity. Notice in the photos below the clever framing in which colorful cans and jars of food line the outside border. The museum has also enhanced the mood of the photos by painting the walls in complementary colors.
One series titled, Vogue: The Arab Issue, is an imagined photo spread of Moroccan women wearing traditional djellabas, hijabs, and kaftans but styled in a Vogue-like way with the women posing as western super models.
In another series, Hajjaj shoots portraits that are a tribute to his friends and heroes- belly, dancers, tattoo artists, chefs, singers, boxers, and shop keepers.
Kesh Angels is a provocative series of henna-tattoo artists portrayed as tough, badass women on Hells Angels style motorbikes. The series later inspired a feature film by Hajjaj, Karima: A Day in the Life of Henna Girl.
Please put Carte Blanche a Hassan Hajjaj at the top of your cultural to do list this fall.
Carte Blanche a Hassan Hajjaj –Until November 11, 2019
MEP/Maison Europeenne de la Photographie
5/7 Rue de Fourcy – 75004
Metro: St. Paul
Open Wedsnesday to Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday
https://www.mep-fr.org/event/maison-marocaine-de-la-photographie/
Do you think I could pull off this look?
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more. In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
You do know the right photographer to pull that motorcycle shot off!
Posted by: Cheryl | September 16, 2019 at 03:41 PM