Painter’s Project Illustrates Similarity Between East And West Cultures

When everyday people from different cultures are juxtaposed their differences diminish.

What do a NYC fashionista and a Pakistani millennial have in common? Ali Hassoun is ready to show ya. He’s a juxtaposition wizard whose paintings cut to the root of what makes us, well, us.

Take the fashionista and the young Pakistani out of context, paint them side by side and BAM! You’re left with two women who look a lot more alike than they do different.

That’s cultural translation. It’s a way of capturing the essence of humanity beneath nationality, religion or any other construct we add to our identity. Below it all is just a bunch of human beings doin’ our thing as best we can.

Raised in Lebanon and spending the better part of his adult life in Italy, Ali knows something about the effect of culture on our lives. He plays with the effects in his art by taking (seemingly) contrasting cultural images and pairing them up to show that they actually really jive with each other and can even create something even more exciting.

Peep his Instagram for more of this good stuff.