#SouthAsianArtists Amal/Twitter
#HGVOICES

Sex, Patriarchy & Religion - These #SouthAsianArtists Are Illustrating It All

Maanya Sachdeva

Wonder Woman reimagined as the brown and proud Dhoom Rani, comic strips with people of colour stepping into the role of protagonist, a Hijabi biker owning the streets, sword-wielding warrior princesses and not-so-coy bahus - Twitter feeds came alive with the work of South Asian artists for a week in October. Over 100 illustrators, painters, calligraphers and graphic designers were responding to 18-year old design student and illustrator Fatima Wajid’s shout-out in a bid to turn the spotlight on art from countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

Under the umbrella hashtag, the artwork explored a wide variety of themes - gender, a lack of representation in popular culture, sensitisation towards the LGBTQ community in these countries and sexual identity, as well as religion and mythology. The result? A stunning digital art showcase that made the interweb sit up and take notice of #SouthAsianArtists.

Here’s a teaser, but you can check out all the submissions here.

Image source: Akshay B. Varaham, Twitter.
Image source: Shehzil Malik, Twitter.
Image source: Kruttika Susarla, Twitter
Image source: Anshika, Twitter.
Image source: Subadra, Twitter.

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