From MAGA to Nike, photographer subverts well-known branding to powerful effect

Belgian Moroccan artist Mous Lamrabat grew up obsessed with fashion he couldn’t wear. Now some of those brands are admirers of his work.

There’s a story that artist Mous Lamrabat likes to tell, about when he first became obsessed with brands. He was 14, a teenager born in Morocco and living with his family in Belgium. Lamrabat and his eight siblings were working class kids who wore plain clothes, long before plain clothes were adopted by the quiet luxury crowd and thus became cool. Back then, the cool kids, they were covered in logos; symbols of a club he desperately wanted to be a part of. “As a kid, you just want to belong,” he remembered. So the teenager took a hat his father wore to mosque and embroidered it with a Nike swoosh. With needle and thread and a logo born 5,000 miles away, the people’s republic of Mousganistan was founded. “Mousganistan,” a manifesto, an exhibition title, and now the name of Lamrabat’s first book, is a “utopia of multiculturalism and unconditional belonging.” It is, as all utopias are, more an idea than a place. It acknowledges all the identities we wear through life, and says, “it’s ok to not be one person,” explained Lamrabat, now 41. We think we have to decide which person to be in any given moment, he added; “American” outside the home, Arab inside, for example. Mousganistan says, “It’s fine. Let’s be both.” This idea has guided Lamrabat’s photography for years, manifested in sign and symbol. Lamrabat rose to prominence by melding Western iconography — especially its symbols of consumerism — with people and places from Africa and the Middle East. His work combines gauche branding with fine-art sensibilities, operating as a cultural melting pot ripe with playful contrast. In Mousganistan, a Tuareg tagelmust (headscarf) is made from Ikea bag straps, women sport henna Wu-Tang Clan logos, and niqabs look like Lakers and Bulls jerseys. Because why not? They are, at their core, heightened reflections of the cultural osmosis and lived experience of millions of people every day. The mischievousness is the point. But as his profile has risen, has Lamrabat run into any issues with the companies his artworks co-opt? “Never,” he said. “A lot of the time, I’m contacted by these brands or creative directors to congratulate me. They’re a big fan.” “In a way, I’m still thinking, ‘Hey, hire me,’” he added, laughing.