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The Philharmonie de Paris is hosting an exhibition of 40 works by Moroccan-British artist and photographer Hassan Hajjaj, whose "Rock Stars" series features some of the most recognisable figures in contemporary music and pop culture. The show brings together portraits of artists ranging from Madonna and Alicia Keys to Billie Eilish, Cardi B and the late Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, offering French audiences a concentrated dose of Hajjaj's unmistakable visual language.
Hajjaj occupies a singular position in contemporary photography. Born in Morocco and based in London, he has spent decades developing a style that refuses to choose between the two cultures that shaped him. Instead, his images place them in direct conversation, layering North African craft traditions, bold colour and graphic patterning with the attitude and energy of British street culture. The result is a body of work that feels simultaneously rooted and global.
That sensibility is precisely what makes his portraits of global superstars so distinctive. When a figure like Billie Eilish or Cardi B steps in front of Hajjaj's camera, the usual machinery of celebrity image-making is disrupted. Rather than simply documenting fame, Hajjaj reframes it through his own aesthetic system, transforming the subject into part of a larger visual world that owes as much to Moroccan markets and textiles as it does to fashion photography.
The exhibition at the Philharmonie reflects the institution's broader interest in the intersection of music and the visual arts. Presenting Hajjaj's "Rock Stars" in a venue best known for concerts and musical programming creates a natural dialogue between the sonic and the visual. The portraits are not merely images of musicians; they are interpretations of musical personas, filtered through an artistic practice deeply concerned with identity, performance and self-presentation.
In conversation about the show, Hajjaj explained how he constructs these instantly recognisable portraits. His process is meticulous and collaborative, involving elaborate sets, carefully chosen clothing and accessories, and a distinctive framing device that has become something of a signature. The results are vivid, densely detailed and immediately identifiable as his work, even before the viewer registers who the subject is.
The series also draws heavily on Hajjaj's own biography. His relationship with Moroccan heritage is not decorative but structural, informing his colour palette, his use of pattern and his approach to staging. At the same time, his years in London have given him an acute sensitivity to street style, subculture and the ways in which people use clothing and posture to communicate who they are. Blending these influences allows him to create images that speak to multiple audiences at once.
For European viewers, the exhibition offers an opportunity to consider how cultural exchange operates in practice rather than as an abstract ideal. Hajjaj's work does not treat Moroccan and British influences as separate elements to be balanced; they are fused into a single, coherent visual language. That fusion is political as well as aesthetic, challenging assumptions about where creativity comes from and who gets to define contemporary cool.
The presence of figures such as Madonna and Alicia Keys in the series also raises questions about power and representation in celebrity portraiture. These are artists accustomed to controlling their own images, working with teams of stylists, publicists and photographers who understand the demands of brand management. Handing that control over to an artist with a strong, idiosyncratic vision is an act of trust, and Hajjaj's ability to secure that trust speaks to his reputation.
Lee "Scratch" Perry, who died in 2021, represents a different strand of the series. A legendary innovator in reggae and dub production, Perry was known for his unpredictable persona and his willingness to embrace the strange and the theatrical. His inclusion alongside contemporary pop stars underscores the breadth of Hajjaj's musical interests and his attraction to artists who construct identities rather than simply inhabit them.
The show is part of a wider cultural moment in which photography from the Global South and its diaspora is receiving increased institutional attention. Museums and galleries across Europe have been re-examining their collections and programming, prompted both by audience expectations and by a broader reckoning with whose stories have historically been told. Hajjaj's visibility in a major Paris venue can be read as part of that shift.
At the same time, there is a risk that such recognition becomes tokenistic, reducing rich and complex practices to a single representative example. Hajjaj's work resists that reduction through sheer volume and variety. Forty portraits, each with its own distinct visual logic, make it difficult to treat the artist as a symbol rather than an individual with a sustained and evolving body of work.
Hajjaj has also been active beyond the gallery context, working across fashion, music and design in ways that blur the boundaries between disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach aligns him with a generation of artists who reject the traditional separation between fine art and commercial or popular culture. His portraits of musicians are therefore not departures from his practice but extensions of it.
The exhibition's timing places it within a busy cultural calendar in Paris, where audiences are increasingly drawn to shows that combine visual art with music, performance and fashion. The Philharmonie's decision to host the "Rock Stars" series suggests a recognition that photography can function as a form of live performance documentation, capturing the energy of a musical personality in a single, static frame.
For visitors unfamiliar with Hajjaj's work, the show is likely to be an introduction not only to his portraiture but also to a broader conversation about hybrid identity. The artist's ability to move between Moroccan and British contexts without losing coherence offers a model for thinking about culture as something accumulated and combined rather than inherited and fixed.
Ultimately, the exhibition is a reminder that portraiture at its best is never merely a record of appearance. Hajjaj's subjects are transformed by his gaze, becoming participants in a visual world that is unmistakably his own. The stars who stepped into that world emerge changed, and so, in a small way, does the viewer who encounters them there.
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