Now, the Toronto-based artist is retailing Hatecopy merchandise, has had several exhibitions and is set to come out with an illustrated book, Trust No Aunty, next month. The same thing we were shamed for is now a thing in your kitchen cabinet.” Why don’t you market it as a Paki dot, because that’s what you coined it?” she asks, also pointing to the appropriation of Indian food: “You now have packaged curries that make it easier for white people to make ‘korma sauce’ at home. They now market it as exotic jewels to wear at outdoor festivals. It was annoying and I know girls who stopped wearing it,” she says, “Looking back, it’s like they tried to erase a part of our culture by beating us up over something they now make money off and wear at Coachella. As a kid, I didn’t even know what that meant until I realised they were referring to the bindi, which is actually common to Indians, Sri Lankans and even Bangladeshis. “When I was bullied, I was often called a Paki dot.

Hatecopy offers a hyperbolic commentary on subjects like marriage and gender roles, and it also explores ignorance and cultural appropriation. Subscribe Now to get 66% OFF Maria Qamar. I would write jingles I thought sounded punny or quirky and, after 20 rounds of revisions, it would end up as something I didn’t even conceptualise… the work of 20 white dudes in suits,” she says. “It was a very sterile environment, with no real room for creativity. She took up advertising in college, and later, got a job as a copywriter. This one is rather personal.ĭespite her talent, Qamar was not allowed to pursue a career in the arts, with her mother even ripping off her drawings from her bedroom wall at one point. Shop Space NK’s edit of luxury makeup, haircare, skincare and fragrance from bestselling brands including Charlotte Tilbury, Drunk Elephant, Diptyque and more. In another, a shocked mother discovers that her “beti is an artist” - her husband says it’s her fault. In one, a wife tells her husband that their daughter didn’t pick up the phone and so, is obviously dead. The central characters in Hatecopy are aunties - the judgmental tribe offering unsolicited advice, and the artwork hilariously depicts the struggles of south Asian immigrants in the west. Today, Qamar, 26, is known as the artist of Hatecopy - whose Lichtenstein-style posts on desi oddities have racked up over one lakh followers on Instagram and found fans in Mindy Kaling and Lena Dunham.

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