If the Moroccan self-taught photographer Ismail Zaidy had to choose, he would describe his work as "minimal, poetic and dreamy". The artist started his career taking images on the roof of his home in Marrakech using his Samsung S5 smartphone. "I needed something to capture [images], but I didn't have the means," he says of his decision to pursue photography in the summer of 2017, just before graduating from Marrakech's Cadi Ayyad University with a BA in International Management the following year. "My mum used to be a photographer, so something was bubbling up in me to continue [down the same route]," he adds. Today, Zaidy is globally recognised. And Hassan Hajjaj has also taken him on as a mentee. "I got to know Ismail's works around 2016 to 2017," Hajjaj says. Hajjaj now showcases Zaidy at his latest tearoom and gallery, Jajjah, in Sidi Ghanem, an industrial zone in Marrakech, home to many artists and designers.
Zaidy's photographs are acknowledged for their distinctive pastel colour palette, his subjects' frequently hidden faces, and his use of family members throughout his oeuvre. Most notably, his brother Othmane and sister Fatima are often featured in his images. "In the beginning, finding models and arranging shoots with them would be tricky," he says, explaining that the process can be arduous and expensive. "I would always have my brother and sister readily available, so that's how I navigated around the problem of models." Though the artist does not exclusively photograph his family members, in 2018, Zaidy began the project 3aila (or "family") with Othmane and Fatima, where they all had creative input. "They're not just models. We work on ideas together and support each other."