From Bad Advice To Great Art

Canadian-pakistani Artist Maria Qamar Is Fighting For Greater Inclusivity Through Her Desi Culture Pop Art-inspired Artwork
 

- Asmita Bakshi

Maria Qamar, 26, was forced to study business in Class 11, when all she wanted to do was art. At 20, she quit her job at an advertising firm as a copy writer because of her “struggle with authority and policing creativity”. “They would take these ideas and pass them through 15 rounds of meetings where 20,000 white guys would put their stamp on it and go, ‘hmm is this appropriate for society to see?’” But Qamar, whose family moved from Pakistan to Canada in 2000 when she was nine, now lives by herself, is a fiercely funny graphic artist and no amount of policing managed to deter her. One breed of policing, in fact, is what her work is about. Inspired by pop-artist Roy Lichtenstein, Qamar draws quintessential desi aunties and their unsolicited advice to young girls—she covers everything from rotis to haraamis. Her new book, Trust No Aunties is for desis, by a desi, she says and in it, she teaches young men and women how to deal with this advice.

What is some advice you get from aunties?