The summer 2019 edition under the theme “The hedonism issue”

A Moroccan illustrator goes beyond religious taboos and offers an unexpected and erotic look to the female body.

When you hear Casablanca, the first thought that comes to your mind is “Play it again, Sam,” Humphrey Bogart said in the movie. Otherwise, it’s probably one of the most popular surfing destinations, as few surfers can resist the bounty of the Atlantic and send spectacular waves to the shores of the city. If you are a little more football fan, your eyes may have fallen on the awesome and fascinating Korean videos put together by the fans of Wydad, the most famous football team in Casablanca, who won most of the matches .

In the midst of cinematographic clichés, salty bodies and watered slogans and smoky stands, Casablanca is an extroverted city, a port of the world, populated by dynamic and creative people.

“The woman’s body is the main source of inspiration and that’s why she often appears in my work. I like to play and explore its curves and shapes creatively.”

Hassan Hajila, illustrator and creative director of an advertising company, stands out from the jobs he has posted on his personal Instagram profile. In a book called Beach Please, the area around a woman’s vulva turns into a bustling beach. Indeed, based on this illustration, Hassan also made a mock-up of the magazine’s issue. The unexpected is a key feature of his style. In another work, the metal frame of a bridge is gradually transformed into a thin set of black hinges. “The woman’s body is the main source of inspiration and that’s why she often appears in my work,” she says. “I like to play and explore its curves and shapes in a creative way, while trying to bring out small and often invisible details.”

By scrolling through her Instagram profile or the purely professional Behance, you discover that each illustration is a visual metaphor, it shows something, but it means something else.
“Sometimes I want to visualize a pun, as in the case of” See you Letter, “where the header is the nipple of a woman’s chest. And since every wax seal is never released in the same way, the nipples are never the same. “Hajila’s main goal is to provide a new perspective on things we think we know or seem trivial: in our own world, nothing is what seems to be and there is always a new and exciting perspective that can refresh unexpectedly our reality.

The great George Lois, the creative director who changed the history of American advertising and was largely inspired by the character of Don Draper in “Mad Men,” saw in the creation of an act that defeated Communism. For Hajila, the creative act is the one that breaks the taboos, rejects them. “Only if we raise them, put them in the foreground and talk to them with courage we can break them,” he says. “And that’s what I’m trying to do.”

“Although I did not talk about censorship on Instagram, I have to say that a lot of people in my country are shocked by my work, and when I went to print business cards, I was educated enough because many did not want not even print them, “scandalized” by my work.”

The different “ideal” forms of the female body can inspire him, but if he had the opportunity, he would like to make art in the future. “The reason is simple: we know what the past has to do with art. I would like to see what happens in the future. I hope people will be more open-minded and that art will be able to more effectively promote freedom and equality. ”

And hope that in the future, the body and the lines of the woman will continue to motivate our senses and to inspire us. Who would not want to get lost in a chasm as Hassan had imagined?

Source : Playboy