The creative side of resistance: Illustrators who use their art to protest

KARACHI: Pakistani illustrators have proven, time and again, how protests can be peaceful yet uncompromising. Contrary to what a lot of people in this country want to believe, resistance cannot be subtle. In spite of being non-violent in the past, resistance movements that are still remembered have all been bold, loud and have shaken the foundations of the status quo.

Aurat March every year is a clear example of how a peaceful protest, with provocative posters and slogans, causes a strong reaction from its opponents. The posters are an act of protest all by themselves. In fact, every year, the posters and artwork get more attention than the protesters or even the organizers.

Even though there are many celebrities who speak out against misogyny, such as Mansha Pasha, Jami, Osman Khalid Butt, Meesha Shafi, Asim Abbasi, the contributions of illustrators and the impact their work has had cannot be denied. From designing clothes to Aurat March posters – a number of these notable illustrators have been women. Some of these illustrators have faced cyber-bullying for their work, but that has not stopped them from standing up against the patriarchy.

While there is no denying the ways in which male allies add to the feminist movement, these women have projected their firsthand experiences in Pakistan, and done so rather beautifully:

Shehzil Malik
You simply cannot forget the contributions of Shehzil Malik when talking about resistance through art in Pakistan. This woman beautifully sculpts her ideas into hard-hitting illustrations depicting the ugly underbelly of society. She’s also famous for all the artwork she has made for the annual Aurat March, or the other political statements she makes against extremism and shadeism in the country.

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On Easter Sunday 2016, a suicide bombing took place at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park. The Democratic Students Alliance asked if we could paint a mural at the park, and my sister and I called up our friends and family to help. I was worried- what do you draw at a time like this? All I knew was I didn't want a design about death or despair. I wanted to make a sign of resistance. As we began to paint, policemen came to stop us- but when we explained the idea, they ended up helping. Families stopped by to talk about their grief and offered us tea. The design says, “Inteha Pasandi Ab Nahi”- “Extremism No More” and the patterns are those I see around me. Sometimes I wonder if we are primarily an intolerant, unjust, cruel society. But when I talk to people, I find their stories of love and acceptance have been drowned out by louder intolerant voices. This mural no longer exists, but I still have questions, esp these days. Do we want to see more destruction around us? Shouldn't we expect more from ourselves than simply tolerating each other? Shouldn't the systems we set up serve all of us? Shouldn't policy be made thinking compassionately and not cynically as a cost-benefit analysis? And shouldn't the value of human life not be up for debate? . Photos by @mahamiqbalbosan

A post shared by shehzil malik (@shehzilm) on May 9, 2020 at 1:28am PDT

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Friendly reminder that fairness creams are toxic that will cause your skin longterm damage. This year the govt released a list that showed that 56 out of 59 samples from cosmetic companies used an excessive amount of Mercury deemed unacceptable for human use. This includes Fair and Lovely, Garnier, Ponds- all companies local and international. As someone who used these creams in their teens, I understand the feelings of insecurity cultivated about dark skin. Then I grew up and realized how ignorant it was to try to lighten my skin. How can we talk about racism or expect other cultures to respect us if we can't afford ourselves the same dignity? Now I deliberately refuse to buy anything with the words "whitening" or "brightening"- I am dark-skinned; I wear where I'm from with pride. Next time you reach for a fairness product, think of that scene from Lagaan where the guy says, "Tum saala ghulam log hamari jooti ke neeche hi rahega" and put the cream back- for your ancestors! 💪🏾💥💁🏽‍♀️ . . . . . #illustration #illustrated #editorialillustration #shehzilmalik #southasian #art #womeninthearts #feminist #brownisbeautiful

A post shared by shehzil malik (@shehzilm) on Dec 20, 2019 at 11:19pm PST

Komal Ash

Khalil-ur-Rehman, with his rampant displays of misogyny during the airing of his hit TV show, Mere Paas Tum Ho, created quite a ruckus. From his appearance on live shows to his controversial dialogue ‘do takkay ki larki‘, Khalil-ur-Rehman became the talk of town and those who wished to benefit from his misogyny gave him more air time and interviews and therefore amplified his voice even more. Komal Ash took the opportunity to say what we were all thinking.

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Literally cannot BELIEVE Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar's language on that video. The woman just said "mera jism meri marzi" and he started SCREAMING. It wasn't just that he was screaming, but also the tone he was screaming in- like the woman was gutter trash, or subservient to him. He said "chup karo" like it was a COMMAND. He said people spit on her body. He said "shakal dekho apni". He said bitch, he said ghatiya. And then he said she had BAD MANNERS. Are men just… born without self awareness? I also really believe that more men should raise their voices against this behavior- at least to balance out the fact that ALL his supporters in the comments are male. #khalilurrehmanqamar #auratmarch #auratmarch2020 #womensmarch #feminism #desifeminism #pakistanifeminist #pakistanistreetstyle #meraypasstumho #pakistaniart

A post shared by Art by Komal Ash (@komalash) on Mar 3, 2020 at 9:16pm PST

Read: COMMENT: Why does Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar hate women?

Aiman Noor

Our colonial hangover has been one of the biggest challenges of our society. Most middle-aged women want fair bahus and women put themselves through a lot of harassment and rejection in order to keep up.

The idea has been inculcated further by fairness creams and the companies that market their product. This insecurity is further exploited by commercials; we even see local makeup brands straight up ignoring the range of darker tones and going for milky white as a tone instead – a shade majority of the women in Pakistan do not have. In such a time, it is necessary to remind ourselves that being dark is not a flaw, and Aiman Noor’s work does just that.

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"Being dark is not a flaw". . . . “You can be the most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when they look at you, but if you yourself don't know it, all of that doesn't even matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that you use to criticize yourself; is a second of your life wasted, is a moment of your life thrown away. It's not like you have forever, so don't waste any of your seconds, don't throw even one of your moments away.” ― C. JoyBell C. . . . . If you do not love yourself, who will? Real beauty is measured by confidence. When you are confident, full of self love and be good to yourself, you do not obsess with the outside beauty. How many people who are physically beautiful with all the features to die for are still unhappy with no self-worth and go unnoticed? Cosmetic industries are filled with people in search of the ultimate looks, nothing wrong with that, but for most of them it is more about how they feel inside. Its about confidence in yourself and accepting who you are and that is how people will accept you. And being dark is not a flaw! . . . Pose inspired by @desigirlaesthetic ✨ . . Dm @sambhalkar_soch to get the details of this art piece💌💥 (swipe left to see execution)

A post shared by Aiman Noor ♑️ (@sambhalkar_soch) on Jul 1, 2020 at 6:11am PDT

Maliha Abidi

During the lockdown, most societies saw a surge in domestic abuse cases. Pakistan ranks as the sixth most dangerous country for women. According to the United Nation’s Global Database on Violence Against Women, the statistics suggest lifetime physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence against women to be about 24.5% while physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in the last 12 months to be 14.5%. Maliha Abidi’s work brought attention to these numbers.

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Domestic violence is on the rise during this quarantine! Victims are isolated alongside their abusers. There is no way out for them. They didn’t see a way out before either. Domestic violence doesn’t know age Domestic violence doesn’t know your race Domestic violence doesn’t know your religion It just knows violence! Domestic violence against women has risen drastically during this lockdown! Covid-19 is already a difficult situation and lockdown is implemented for everyone’s safety but what about the women going through domestic abuse during this time? Dr Hans Kluge, director of WHO’s European region, told a press briefing that across the continent the number of women making emergency calls had risen 60 per cent in April, compared to the same month in 2019. Cases of domestic violence against children in Asia are at an all time high as well! Due to school closures and lockdown, millions of children across multiple Asian countries have been victims of domestic violence. They are children. They do not even know how to report such incidents. But even if we talk about violence again adult women, in many countries, even they don’t want to report it! They just stay quiet and take it! And sometimes, they are silenced forever. Covid-19 pandemic is not just a global health crisis, its a domestic violence crisis for millions of women and children! “Undocumented domestic violence survivors are the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable”, said a representative of Saheli Organisation in the US. I am sharing some articles in the stories about domestic violence. We need to spread awareness about this. We need to educate ourselves about this. We need to alway remember the victims and help them however we can. We need to get the message across to every women and child out there that there is help available, we care about you, you are not alone! And we also need to spread awareness so that the abuser knows that what they are doing is wrong and they will be caught! This is a very troubling situation with a surge in number of cases from around the world! STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE! Zero tolerance against violence! #Domesticviolence

A post shared by Maliha Abidi🌙 (@maliha_z_art) on May 9, 2020 at 9:33am PDT

Watch: #AuratMarch: Rising Up For Equality

Mahnoor Ahmad

Marriage is not supposed to be nearly as difficult as it is made in Pakistan. With a long list of things the groom’s family hands to the father of the bride as dowry, it is justified with the following thought: “Aap apni khushi sey derahey hein. Apki beti kay hi kaam ayega.” (You’re doing it because it would make you happy. Your daughter will be the one who ends up using these things after all.) Films like Load Wedding have brought attention to how archaic these practices are, artists like Mahnoor are using their platform to do the same.

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Part 4 Some marriages are all about compensating, compensating for all the things you dont even have control over, for things that should not mean anything in a marriage those are the things we compensate for. These are not marriages, these are business deals, filled up with clauses decided by both families mutually, leaving the couple to set the base of an amazingly simplest thing such as marriage by traumatising them. THIS HAS TO STOP! SAY NO TO DOWRY! . . . . . . . . . . . #rishtaparade #cupoftea #tea #dowrysystem #procreate #pakistaniculture #indianartists #indianculture #culturalstereotypes #breakingstereotypes #stereotypes #stereoscopic #illustrationsofinstagram #illustrationoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #instaart #instaartist #instagood #dowry #womenrights #womenempowerment #womensupportingwomen #women #womenofpakistan #womensprogress2019 #womeninspiringwomen #empoweredwomen #logkyakahenge #illustrationoftheday

A post shared by Mahnoor Ahmad (@mahnoorahmad9) on Jul 3, 2020 at 1:12pm PDT

Anain Shaikh

Although it is somehow very confusing for a lot of people who have unfortunately still not been able to master the art of googling definitions, feminism is not against men. Some very notable men around us have been strong allies to the movement. Feminism is against the patriarchy; the Urdu word for which is pidarshahi. It is described as a system that places authority in the hands of men, with women being submissive to that power and usually being exploited by that authority.

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'One more push to the wall of patriarchy' To those who think this poster is promoting violence well think whatever you want deevaar toh tootay gi. I am done explaining myself to the trolls on the internet. K thx bye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #merajismmerimarzi #mybodymychoice #auratmarch2020 #auratmarch #feminist #feminism #whyimarch #marchforlife #womenempowerment #illustration #feminism #WomensDay #auratmarchkhi #womensupportingwomen #feministart #khatoonartsociety #illust #illo #illustrationartists #karachi #Pakistan

A post shared by Anain Shaikh (@ainoocheepees) on Mar 5, 2020 at 9:11pm PST

Read: This is how you shut down a misogynist

In conclusion, awareness is the first step. The realisation that a violation has occurred is key to standing up against that violence. These illustrators are trying to do just that. A number of movements started through awareness, even our own movement for azaadi in British India. It sprung only after the educated groups of people started to question their surroundings and they used art and literature to spread that awareness.

An important thing to add here is, these illustrators are not responsible for the connotations you attach to their slogans and artwork. It is their expression and they know best what it means. We wish the very best of luck to these brave girls, and may Pakistan see more of such illustrators!