Self-Portrait as a Pink-Fan Santa Marta Ara Rubrogenys, 2023

In 2017, after noticing an influx of parrots over East LA, Hakim began Psittaciformes, a series addressing adaptability, migration, and mimicry. Reflecting on his transnational background—born in Colombia, adopted by Israeli parents, and raised between Australia and Switzerland—he created hybrid parrot-self-portraits that complicate conventions of contemporary portraiture, visibility, and identity. Drawing from scientific drawings, wildlife photography, European portraiture, and family photos, these unnatural, hybrid figures, in studied, exaggerated poses, are imbued with parody and artificiality. Evoking the flamboyance of royal portraiture, the fantastical creature in Self-Portrait as a Pink-Fan Santa Marta Ara Rubrogenys—with lips in place of a beak and vibrant feathers merged with human skin—perches histrionically on a branch, with a dignified gaze, chest exposed, extended leg, and red fingers elegantly splayed amid bromeliads and tropical foliage. Hakim’s use of unframed Dacron sailcloth instead of canvas emphasizes themes of movement, impurity, and adaptability.