Samya Arif
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what it is that you do?
“My name is Samya Arif. I’m based in Karachi, Pakistan and, for the past 14 years, I’ve worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, and visual artist. Much of my work is inspired by my own experiences as a woman living in Pakistani society. I focus a lot on social issues that affect women, especially within my country or within the South Asian sphere, and I try to bring these to light while celebrating the multiplicity of women and all their different facets and personalities.
Around nine years ago, I created a series of six artworks called Women Of My Land. Each artwork expressed a different theme or issue relating to women in Pakistan. Cosmic Ninja, for example, was about how religious Muslim women are perceived in the West because there’s generally a very narrow opinion about women who wear hijabs or niqabs, despite these women being many other things apart from religious. Another artwork, titled Fast Girls, depicting me while I smoke a cigar, explored what was OK for me to share with society. When my parents found out that I was a smoker, their main concern was what other people would say. They were worried that people would think that I’m no longer a “good girl” or that it would reflect badly on my morals and character. So, really, I just wanted to break the mold on such limited ways of thinking about women with this series.
Automatically, I felt that my art was being looked at as feminist art. As a feminist, I obviously want to support that line of thought, but I do also explore other themes within my work as well. I explore my own journey as a multi-faceted human, not only as a woman. That being said, I feel that feminism in the Global South, and especially within South Asia, needs to be (and is) very different from Western feminism. We cannot think in individualistic ways; we really have to think about community when we’re thinking about terms like feminism. I know, for example, that I come from a privileged background within my country, and that it’s a completely different game for women who come from underprivileged backgrounds in Pakistan.
So, when we talk about feminism, we need to include that way of thinking. In my work, I try to achieve that. Since completing Women Of My Land, I have progressed into multiple other series and personal artworks on women, our lives, and our rights. As a freelance illustrator and designer, I also receive a lot of commercial projects relating to women as well. I’ve worked on many book covers for novels written by South Asian women authors and have done a lot of posters for films centred on social issues such as women’s rights that are coming out of Pakistan.”
What is one piece of content that profoundly impacted the way you view and/or work in this field?
“One of my portraits that I love the most is the one inspired by Areeba and Noor Unnahar Siddique, two Pakistani twin sisters who are really huge on social media. When I discovered them, they were really young – only around 16 or 17 years old. One was making beautiful illustrations while the other one wrote poetry. Now, they’re both well-established artists in their respective fields! They come from a traditional and religious background, and I found the way that they include religion in their art and in their poetry so refreshing and interesting.
By the time I finally met them, they were thinking about going to business school. I remember telling them: ‘Please don’t do this; the art and literary worlds need you!’ They were both fans of my work, so I eventually convinced them to go to the same art school that I had graduated from. Thankfully, they ended up going there, and I got to know them a little more. In the portrait that I did, I really wanted to showcase their Islamic identity. But, honestly, what really comes through is their playful nature and the fact that they’re just young girls who love exploring different things. Like other teenage girls, they have crushes on actors or Korean pop idols. They’re just adorable!
I always try to take inspiration from the women around me whether it’s my own family, my friends, or even just other women around Pakistan who inspire me. I try to include as many of them as I can in my work.”
Let’s talk more about the censorship that you’ve faced. What’s the pushback like regarding some of your works?
“It’s been different for different projects over the years. However, there’s one project that instantly comes to mind. A few years ago, Google approached me and asked me to create a Google Doodle which celebrated the birthday of a very revered, hugely influential, and legendary classical singer from Pakistan by the name of Iqbal Bano. She became famous in her youth in a Pakistan that had not yet become Islamicised by dictators. Back then, women would wear sleeveless tops out in public and she sang to them as they drank. She was really vivacious and had a really strong personality. Whenever she would sing, she would wear these garlands of roses, which are a huge part of our culture, on her hands and/or in her hair. As I started learning more about her, I found out that she was a very political singer as well.
Of course, I was so happy that I got this commission to create this doodle in her honour. Because she often wore flowers when she performed, I added those garlands into my sketches. At that point, I didn’t think there was going to be any problem but, nonetheless, the Pakistan office came back and asked me to remove the garlands from her arms. They claimed that those garlands signified women from the red-light district and, according to them, I was implying that she was a prostitute. I was absolutely flabbergasted! I expected the Pakistani office to be aware of the fact that these garlands of roses are such a huge part of our culture and society. I kid you not, we always use them. My own father buys me these garlands and brings them home every time he’s out of the house.
I was so upset that I took a day to put together an email in response. Obviously, this critique was coming from some Pakistani man speaking about the garlands which we women wear. I honestly don’t know what school of thought this person was coming from, but I was so offended. I didn’t want to remove the garlands, especially considering that she did actually wear them. Some battles you can’t win, though. The office used the excuse that Iqbal Bano’s family was now conservative and that they wouldn’t want her to be shown in a light that they weren’t comfortable with.
I think she would have hated that. Near the end of her career in the late ‘80s, military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq banned the sari, a garment that has been worn by people in South Asia for centuries. In response, Iqbal Bano performed this huge concert for around 50,000 people in the biggest stadium in Lahore. Not only was she wearing a sari, but she was singing the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of our most celebrated poets who was sent into exile during this military dictatorship. Overnight, she became a sensation all over the news: ‘Oh my God, Iqbal Bano defies the dictator!’ As a result, the state imposed a ban on her as well, and she was banned from performing till the end of the dictatorship.
Even if Iqbal Bano wasn’t a sex worker, I do try really hard to include stuff like that in my work. There are a lot of things that people aren’t comfortable talking about in our society. Especially, most recently, queer rights. In response, people generally try to bring these topics up cleverly and subtly without offending others too much. I feel similarly. If my art ends up getting censored in Pakistan, what was the point of even making it if my people aren’t even able to see it? Sometimes, you do have to take the risk and people do end up getting offended. I’ve had my work censored quite a few times over the years and for the most ridiculous of reasons. But, you find clever ways around it, and you pick your battles.”
Could you describe for us the most emotionally-impactful creative project that you’ve worked on to date?
“I think I would say that it’s the project I started out with, Women Of My Land. I really feel personally emotionally impacted by it because it was the first time that I ever got to exhibit my personal work. That, in itself, was a battle as I’m a self-taught illustrator. But also, in Pakistan, illustration is still a relatively new field. When I say that I’m an illustrator, a lot of times people don’t understand. This exhibition was the first time illustration was ever displayed at an art gallery here, at least to my knowledge. Back then, there were only a few of us in the field. But now, there is a large number of people, especially women, in the field to look up to. Actually, some of our top illustrators right now in Pakistan are women who started out at about the same time as me.Women Of My Land was impactful to me because it was the first time I put myself out there. It also was a very beautiful project, though. My partner Talha Asim Wynne, who’s a producer and a DJ, helped me make music for each of the different artworks. Together, we tried to cover different genres – from techno, to classical, to rock. It was really fun! In the end, each artwork had an accompanying track, and I animated each artwork a little bit. In fact, because so many people fell in love with this music, some of the tracks were used in a documentary called ‘This Stained Dawn’ which detailed the revival of women’s marches in Pakistan after 30 years in 2021.”
Finally, what does feminism mean to you, given everything that we’ve talked about so far? What does it mean to be an advocate for women’s rights?
“I feel like the term ‘feminist’ is a double-edged sword in Pakistan. Ever since the military dictatorship of the late ‘70s which stomped out all of the women’s rights movements, they don’t want us out in the streets protesting or talking openly about it. Ever since the Me Too movement, however, there’s been a lot of movement in bringing these marches back to Pakistan. I think, at the beginning, people were really shocked by the number of people who attended these things. It wasn’t just women either – there were a lot of people from the queer and trans communities as well.
You have to be careful when using the term ‘feminism’ in Pakistan because it would instantly get you labelled as a ‘Western Liberal.’ People who are critical of these marches don’t understand them and only view them as promoting a ‘Western agenda.’ Obviously, that’s not true at all; we just want equal rights. Besides, if you really look within Islam, there are a lot of rights that women are granted. I mean, there are still some things that I don’t agree with myself, but women are definitely given rights and importance in the Qur’an. Instead, fundamentalists of the religion twist it around in order to maintain control of the country. It’s cultural, not religious.
For me, though, feminism is, at the end of the day, the ability of a woman to be able to do whatever she wants to do. She should be able to achieve whatever she wants to achieve. Feminism gives women this platform and advocates for them to have the tools they need (whether it’s education, a boost of confidence, or anything else they might need) to be able to do amazing things. The main thing I want for women, especially in my country, is the ability to do whatever they want without fear. Whether it is the fear of disappointing your family or the fear of going out and being assaulted, the fear of being judged for being truly yourself really stops us a lot of the time from trying to achieve our dreams. So, that’s always been the primary reason why I call myself a feminist and why I want to fight for women’s rights.”