Hasan and husain essop biography of christopher

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Muslims in South Africa’s Cape province, descendants from the dissenters and slaves trafficked there from the Indian Ocean Islands by the Dutch East India Company, are often labelled as Cape Town’s picturesque others.

Not in the pictures of Hasan and Husain Essop (1985, Cape Town). The Essop brothers move beyond the expected and play with fixed notions of place and identity.

Hasan and husain essop biography of christopher

Their work questions perceptions of religion and tradition in a city that values keeping its apartheid-era categories.

Hasan and Husain Essop both studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in their home town. They started to work together on their first photography project, Halaal Art, which focused on Muslim youth negotiating ‘self’ and ‘other’ in a secular environment, shortly after their graduation.

After Halaal Art, the young artists went thr