Add a little masala and masti and that’s what you get when you see Maria Qamar’s comics. Sometimes controversial and always cheeky, her art is drawing a lot of buzz around the world.
Qamar knew she wanted to draw when she was a little girl. “I started competing against other kids in my art class and realized this was something I truly enjoyed doing,” says the 24-year-old. I also love making people laugh, so the two talents worked in my favour later on in life.”
She takes inspiration from her South Asian and North American culture. “I was born and raised in Pakistan to a Gujarati mother and a Bengali father,” says Qamar. “I moved to Canada when I was nine, so I’ve grown up constantly comparing and living among the two lifestyles.”
Qamar blends the two into an interesting mix that tackles topics like sexism, dating and marriage. “Everything I do is about female empowerment because I grew up in a very strong, matriarchal household and I was raised by and was very close to the women in my family (especially the aunties),” says Qamar. “This is probably why I gravitated towards the aunties in Indian soap operas because their day-to-day drama reminded me of the things I grew up with.”
See her work at http://hatecopy.com/