AKAA Fair 2019

Kyle Weeks
From brands like Raf Simons and Gucci to publications like Dazed&Confused or i-D, the Namibia-born, South Africa-raised photographer is starting to make a name of his own. In 2016, he won the prestigious Magnum Photography Award, and he hasn’t stopped since. Mainly working in fashion photography – and having done editorials with industry heavyweights like stylist Ib Kamara –, Weeks’ approach to style is almost documentary-like and gives nods to his African identity.

David Uzochukwu
With a precocious talent in photography, David Uzochukwu has been making headlines since he was 15. He’s portrayed the likes of FKA Twigs, worked on commissions for companies such as Nike and exhibited both solo and in group shows worldwide, but he’s most known for his highly poetic, sensitive and other-worldly images, which merge people and nature into one.

Daniela Mooney
Spanning sculpture, painting and installation, the South African artist develops her personal language through abstraction. Using mostly natural materials like stones (granite, sandstone, marble, jade, soapstone, etc.), metal (mainly bronze) and wood, she combines their textures, forms and culturally-associated symbolism to create new meanings in sculptures that are more assembled than carved – although she has a remarkable series of self-portraits as vessels.

Hassan Hajjaj
Photographer, filmmaker and designer; the Moroccan artist is one of the country’s most international and recognized talents. Based between London and Marrakech, he’s been focusing on portraiture as of late but also works on performance, fashion, furniture design and installation art. His vivid and personal style is influenced by pop art and culture, music (especially hip hop and reggae), and fashion photography, and is as joyful as it is unique.

Keyezua
Her father died of diabetes when she was still a young girl; and before that, he had his legs amputated. In Angola, her home country, a man without legs is not considered a man anymore. To overcome grief and loss and rewrite his father’s history, the Dutch-Angolan artist started the series Fortia, featuring different women in red dresses and wearing masks designed and created by six Angolan men who, like her father, no longer had legs. Now, she’s presenting a new series of works that still have red as one of its most defining elements and that also speaks about identity and power.

Leslie Amin
Of Franco-Beninese origin and raised in Lyon (France), the artist is mostly focused on exploring mixed-race experiences and identity through her art. She affirms that most of her inspiration stems from her trips around the world, from Tahiti to Morocco, which she later depicts on watercolour and pencils. Her images transport the viewer to faraway places, those she’s visited and that she’s able to turn into paradises in their own right – think palm trees and interesting-looking characters.

Mous Lamrabat
Divided between Belgium and Morocco, the image-maker – he doesn’t define himself as a photographer – has been on the rise these past years. His style is playful, fun and humorous, and finds itself in-between fine art and fashion. Although he started studying interior design and architecture, he quickly turned to photography as he could “create every day”, as he told us in his interview a while ago. Now, he combines his personal series with shootings for magazines around the world.

Shiraz Bayjoo
Originally from Mauritius, Shiraz is one of the most renowned artists in this year’s edition. After graduating from the Wales Institute in Cardiff, his career skyrocketed: he’s been an artist in residence at the prestigious White Chapel gallery in London and has participated in various biennials in Sydney, Dakar, Casablanca and Sharjah, in addition to his multiple shows. Spanning film, photography, painting and drawing, his work talks about themes such as identity, power relations, language, freedom and war.

Soukaïna Aziz El Idrissi
The Moroccan artist’s work focuses on sustainability, the environment, waste, pollution and upcycling. After studying Textile Design at London’s Central Saint Martins, she stayed in the British capital, where she participated in exhibitions, symposiums and seminars. However, she moved back to her original Casablanca eight years ago, where she’s been exploring all the possibilities that plastic as a material has to offer. With experimentation at the core of her practice, she’s created pieces like a massive labyrinth made of plastic waste to her own take on the theme ‘cabinet of curiosities’.