Princess Hijab Hits Paris Again!

This newest piece from Princess Hijab was recently photographed by Christophe Meiries in Paris. The image shows a level of detail and sophistication I haven't seen in the Princess's work thus far. I like it a lot and I hope to see more soon.

As I have no contact with the artist, I may make assumptions here that aren't true. Please forgive me. As I understand it, this project isn't ultimately about the companies behind the advertisements, so much as it is about the proliferation of a cultural minority in media more generally. Despite this I still wish the logos were removed along with the "hijabizing," as the artist calls it. Without the company logo, the image refers only to the artist, whereas with the logo the image is somehow still a bastardized ad for Arena, but an ad nonetheless. I understand the artist might want the viewer to associate the new media content with the company, but that's just my thought on the matter.

New Work By Princess Hijab

VIA Vandalog

As per usual I'd prefer the advertisement gone but this takeover does have a wonderful quality to it. The lack of substantial text allows the simple image to stand on its own, and I like that.


Photos by Antoine Breant

Fresh Stuff From Princess Hijab

VIA Wooster Collective

Photo by Antoine Bréant

Princess Hijab explains the motivations behind her work.

This is the story of a young woman fighting every day for a noble cause: she wants to “hijabize” advertising. Princess Hijab knows that L’Oréal and Dark&Lovely have been killing her little by little. She feels that the veil is no longer that white. She feels contaminated. When she was a teen, she heard about movements such as Adbuster; but since 9/11, things have changed. She does not subvert images in an American way. Princess Hijab will go on, veiled and alone, forever asserting her physical and mental integrity. By day, she wears a white veil, symbol of purity. By night, her black veil is the expression of her vengeful fight for a cause (custom ad). With her spray paint and black marker pen, she is out to hijabize advertising. Even Kate Moss is targeted. She knows all about visual terrorism! And she will not spare her right of expression for the likes of publicists. Make sure that all advertising can be hijabized “ ‘cause that’s her fight Jihad is her art”. And don’t forget, she acts upon her own free will. She is not involved in any lobby or movement be it political, religious or to do with advertising. In fact, the Princess is an insomniac-punk. She is the leader of an artistic fight, nothing else.