Hassan Hajjaj is known as the “Andy Warhol of Marrakech” - but his style transcends that comparison. His work lives in the intersection of fashion, pop culture, Moroccan heritage, Afro influence, orientalist critique, and many other disciplines, truly placing it in a league of its own. In this episode of al empire, the British-Moroccan photographer and artist sits down with Dana Ballout to talk about what it was like moving from Morocco to the UK in the 1970s, his journey to calling himself an artist, and why his art isn’t for intellectuals.

This episode is hosted by Dana Ballout. Produced by Finbar Anderson and Ahmed Ashour. Edited by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack. Research and fact checking by Deena Sabry, with sound design and mixing by Youssef Douazou. Batoul Khalifeh is our operations manager. Special thanks to Sole DXB. 

al empire is a production of Kerning Cultures Network. 

Find a transcript for this episode at kerningcultures.com/al-empire.

Watch Season 3 of al empire on YouTube.

This episode is supported by Calo, an app that provides personalized meal plan subscriptions. Download Calo here https://bit.ly/41il08u to get 10% off using code KC10.