Mohamed Hassan
Mohamed Hassan
PRESELI PONY
CJ: Hi Mohamed, a while back you sent me a beautiful print of ‘Preseli Pony’ thank you, I love it.
Over the last few years, I have been working through some personal life changes and at times felt really low, your little white pony has been sitting in the frame and every time I looked at it, the white pony acted as a reminder to keep on pushing through. It literally stimulated my senses which helped me feel stronger. It’s been like a therapy photo for me. A big dose of photo medicine!
This experience got me thinking more about how images can do this. Preseli Pony has a very powerful presence in my life and healing journey, so thank you for that. I know you could have never known it would have this effect on me, I think we as image makers, hope our work stimulates a person in some way.
I would love to hear from other photographers if they have a photograph that literally moved them forward. Images that motivate and agitate, ones that create a feeling for personal change and help with mental health, to then act.
Print Preseli Pony
CJ: Any photos that influenced you, on a personal therapeutic level.
MH: That’s a hard question maybe one or two photos.
CJ: Yes, it is hard, I have a couple of my own photos that trigger a feeling but yours has been the only one that I would say helped me through a really hard time.
MH: I had really bad anxiety when I made this photo ( MARLOES ROCKS ), every time I look at this picture it feels like I have re-charged my battery again.
Print Marloes Rocks
Mohamed Hassan is a Welsh Egyptian artist whose photographic practice focuses on themes of identity and belonging.
His work explores the lived experiences of people who are considered ‘different’ and marginalised due to structural inequalities relating to race, sex, sexual orientation and disability. He has a special interest in the arab/north African diaspora. His work draws on both people and place as factors that shape our place in the world. Hassan’s work also incorporates autobiographical elements reflecting his own cultural and social change in attitude and behaviour.
“In a portrait by Mohamed Hassan, who was born in Alexandria but now lives in Wales, a Sudanese worker sits alone in a drab room in Cairo. The migrant’s name is given in the title: Salih. Also, a Welsh term is appended, hiraeth, meaning something like longing and sadness. The colours of the photo are amazingly sophisticated and remind me of modern beauty captured in photos of sleazy southern locations by William Eggleston in the 1960s and 1970s. His trademark is beauty that appears to come from nothing. Hassan achieves that effect in a photo that is also remarkable for its studied narrative richness.” Matthew Collings, Evening Standard – reviewer of Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize.
Originally from Alexandria in Egypt, Hassan is based in west Wales, he holds a 1st class honours degree in Photography and is currently working towards an MA in Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales.
Hassan has been shortlisted for several awards and competitions and his work has been exhibited in Wales at the prestigious Glynn Vivian Gallery, Ffotogallery Cardiff, Mission Gallery, the Waterfront National Museum in Wales, Oriel Davies Newtown, Nova Cymru touring exhibition. and the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Internationally, he has exhibited in the ‘Facing Britain’ exhibition touring museums and galleries in Germany and Poland and has had solo exhibitions in Cairo in his home country of Egypt.
Mohamed is making some really good work you can also find him over on
Instagram @mohamed_hassan.photo
Twitter @m_moro1