SCAD deFINE ART: Encounter power of images with Hassan Hajjaj, Gyun Hur, Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong

Join the artists and SCAD Museum of Art curators in the galleries for conversations on the work of Hassan Hajjaj, Gyun Hur, and Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong. The artists in attendance will discuss their distinct approaches to image-making, as well as the specific cultural contexts that inform their work. Curator Ben Tollefson will touch on Hassan Hajjaj’s relationship between portraiture and cultural identity, while Gyun Hur will reflect on the connection between visual landscapes and collective memory. Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong will then share how their work with found snapshots addresses the anonymity of history.

About the artists
Hassan Hajjaj (b. 1961, Larache, Morocco) creates vibrant, boldly patterned portraits of friends, colleagues, celebrities, and members of his community that express evolving notions of self and society in today’s globalized, connected world. The artist captures his subjects in ad hoc studios set up on the street, further contributing to the works’ international blend of music, fashion, and popular culture. Inspired by street style and hip hop, Hajjaj draws influence from African photographers including Sanlé Sory, Samuel Fosso, and Malick Sidibé. From these historically significant artists, Hajjaj absorbed the idea of studio portraiture as a malleable vehicle for identity definition. In his contemporary works, he reshuffles cultural signifiers to portray a world in which individuals draw from diverse international sources to define who they are. The artist came of age in London in the 1980s and ’90s, and his own contributions to the city’s nightlife and street style are reflected in the cultural mission of his photographs. As the artist explains, “In the ’80s, London was just starting to blend. We all came from different backgrounds. We had to create something to find our space.” Hajjaj achieves this spirit of cultural comingling and co-creation in his images through blending, juxtaposing, and mirroring traditional Moroccan patterns with contemporary signifiers of global style and consumption. Hajjaj has presented his work internationally in group and solo exhibitions at Barakat Contemporary, Seoul; Fotografiska, Stockholm; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Somerset House, London; British Museum, London; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. His work is held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, and others.

Gyun Hur (b. Daegu, South Korea; SCAD M.F.A., sculpture, 2009) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose lived experience as the daughter of immigrants deeply fuels her practice. Born in South Korea, she moved to the U.S. state of Georgia at the age of 13 and currently lives and works in New York. Hur has participated in residencies with Stove Works, NARS Foundation, Pratt Fine Arts Center, BRICworkspace, Danspace Project, Ox-Bow, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is the recipient of a Bronx Museum AIM Fellowship, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Artadia Award, and the inaugural Hudgens Prize, among others. Her works have been featured in publications including Art in America, Art Papers, Sculpture Magazine, Hyperallergic, Cultured Magazine, The Cut, and ArtAsiaPacific, among others. Her interest in art-making in public space has led to presentations at the TEDxCentennialWomen; the international street art conference Living Walls, The City Speaks; the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The New School, and many others. Hur has contributed to fLoromancy, The Brooklyn Rail, and The Forgetory.

Leung Chi Wo (b. 1968, Hong Kong) and Sara Wong (b. 1968, Hong Kong) have collaborated since 1992. The artists co-founded the arts center Para Site in Hong Kong in 1996 and graduated with master’s degrees from the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1997. From 1999 to 2000, Leung and Wong participated in a residency in New York, where they premiered City Cookie, their most widely exhibited project, as part of a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council. In 2001, Leung exhibited in Hong Kong’s first pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He has presented work at EVA International—Ireland Biennial in Limerick and the Thailand Biennale, as well as solo exhibitions at Rokeby, London, and Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong. Leung is an associate professor in the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. Wong is the recipient of the Ramon Woon Creative Prize from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Most Promising Artist Award as part of the Philippe Charriol Foundation Art Competition, Hong Kong. She has participated in artist-in-residence programs at MoMA PS1, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and the Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais in Switzerland. Wong is a practicing landscape architect with large-scale projects in China.