Last February, Hassan Hajjaj arrived in AlUla to photograph portraits of residents of and visitors to the historic Saudi city.
The Royal Commission for AlUla had asked the Moroccan artist to take 18 portraits across three days, meaning he didn’t have to photograph more than six subjects a day.
“What actually happened was utter chaos,” say Sumantro Ghose, artistic programming director at the Royal Commission for AlUla.
As Hajjaj set up an outdoor studio at Madrasat Addeera, a crowd began lining up for the chance to have their picture taken by the photographer with his unmistakable aesthetic.
“Everybody who came down wanted to have the photo. And he's such a nice guy. He didn't say no to anybody,” Ghose says. It soon became clear that his output would far exceed the initial projection.
Exactly a year later, Hajjaj’s photos are being showcased in a special open-air exhibition at the AlJadidah Arts District.
AlUla 1445, which is part of AlUla Arts Festival 2024, features dozens of portraits of athletes, merchants, farmers and members of the regional creative community. His subjects, dressed in streetwear designed by Hajjaj as well as traditional clothing, pose in front of vivid, patterned backdrops framed with polka dots, and in some cases, Pepsi and Miranda cans with Arabic lettering.
The Royal Commission for AlUla commissioned Hajjaj for the project around the time the Andy Warhol exhibition opened at Maraya last year. The project was meant to show how “it was not just Americans who were into pop art and consumer culture,” Ghose says.
“I wanted to curate the show to have the photographs almost life-size,” he says. “We deliberately didn't name any of the sitters. He took photographs of the sports team. He took a photograph of Alicia Keys.
“He took some of international people. There were people coming in from Riyadh, the creative community. There are some my colleagues. Some people wore their own clothes, some wore clothes designed by him.”
While Hajjaj often brings his own backdrops to his shoots, he also went shopping in the local market for products he could incorporate in the photos. Among the items were products made by artisans from Madrasat Addeera. Once a secondary school in AlUla, the structure has since become an arts and design centre that hosts artisan development programmes.
Hajjaj is set to return to AlUla some time later this year to conduct another set of photography workshops for local creatives. His previous workshops were dedicated to teaching local photographers how to conduct photo shoots, touching upon Hajjaj’s unique take on set design and composition.
Hassan Hajjaj’s AlUla 1445 is running at AlJadidah Arts District until April 27
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Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Results
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
