Opening Reception Thursday 16 January 6 – 8pm

Crawford Art Gallery is delighted to present work by Hassan Hajjaj and Nassiem Valamanesh as part of its ongoing screening series by Irish and international artists. In a new departure, Crawford Art Gallery has invited Rose Issa, a leading expert on contemporary visual art and film from the Arab world and Iran to curate the exhibition. Both Hassan Hajjaj and Nassiem Valamanesh’s work explore the interface of living in and between merging cultures paradoxically highlighting alienation and embracing the differences.

Hassan Hajjaj’s installation My Rock Stars Experimental, Volume I is simultaneously a haut-­‐ couture street experiment and a revival of African photography from the 1960s and 70s, while celebrating present-­‐day musicians, unsung artists and personal inspirations in the artist’s life. The film is part of a series of works, which is an on-­‐going examination of belonging in an increasingly globalized society where boundaries of cultural identity – most notably African, Arabic and Western – are constantly changing. Hajjaj, designs the costumes of the musicians and singers using traditional fabrics and found objects which he sources from local markets in his town of birth, Marrakech, and in doing so, bridges the gap between past and present cultures, creating pieces that seamlessly merge folkloric elements into Western contemporary art. Musician Simo Lagnawi who is featured in the film will perform in the gallery, alongside Hajjaj in March.

Artist talk Hassan Hajjaj & performance by musician Simo Lagnawi Thursday 20 March, 6pm