I believe your environment has a great impact on you, and by that, I am not only talking about your physical environment but also the digital environment you expose yourself to.
The people you follow on social media, the type of content you see, and the videos you watch – all of that play a crucial role in shaping your opinions and judgments. We don’t realize that alot of social stereotypes are being unknowingly pushed deep into our subconscious because of the content we consume on a daily basis.
Take hate comments, for example. How many times have you seen someone talking bad about others or giving their unsolicited opinions in the comment sections? Quite a lot, right? Even if we consider that to be a bad thing, the more times we see it happening, the more normalized it becomes.
So, what can you do? Expose yourself to constructive content; it’s simple. Start following the content creators whose content creates an impact and directs your judgments in a positive way. You must be thinking, “…but we use social media to get a break from our boring routine.” Who said impactful content couldn’t be fun?
In today’s episode of introducing y’all to creative artists you need to follow, we have Wasfa Kamal. Let me walk you through her Instagram journey, and you will fall in love with her work.
Who is Wasfa Kamal?
Wasfa Kamal is a Pakistani-based illustrator who started posting her illustrations on Instagram almost two and a half years ago, and her creative style and the thoughtful concept soon caught everyone’s attention.
She talks about women’s rights and social and cultural issues and depicts experiences and emotions through her bright, colorful, and sometimes humorous artworks.
Wasfa’s Instagram Journey of Creating Digital Art
Wasfa’s Instagram account is like her personal portfolio. And if we are going to talk about her exceptional art, we should track her journey through her Instagram account. Let’s see how it all started and what type of art you can expect to see on your feed when you follow her (considering you are one of those who aren’t already following her).
For those who already know/are following her, let me walk you through the journey of your favorite digital artist.
Playing Around With Fonts
It all started with fonts. Scrolling through her account, you will find out that the earliest posts about digital art were the posters of the names of some famous Pakistani dramas, where she mentioned that she was casually playing around with fonts. Before that, her account was mainly about photography and sharing randomly captured moments from her life.
It’s amazing how a journey started with these fonts can turn into something so impactful that soon her art started questioning the stereotypes deep-rooted in our society.
A Comic Touch to Social Satire
The very first illustration that she uploaded was “apki soch kali hai” which was a satire related to the beauty standards created by our society. It received appreciation, and soon we got to see more of Wasfa’s talent as she kept on uploading these comic illustrations.
From the unsolicited Shaadi advice to body shaming and the toxicity that is spread all around us, Wasfa’s art resonated with our daily lives.
We, women, hear these things all the time – “akely bahar ja rahi ho?” “Shaadi kab hogi” “Larki ho… itna parh kar kya karo gi,” etc, Wasfa, being one of us, portrayed our feelings so perfectly that the audience fell in love with her art.
Here, I will like to take a moment to appreciate the details of her illustrations before moving on with the praises of the concepts behind these illustrations. From perfectly balanced skin tone to spot-on facial expressions, you can tell she has got some real experience of witnessing these situations. Also, the nose pins, jhumkas, and mehndi make her illustrations perfectly desi.
Other than addressing the issues women face, Wasfa has also made illustrations of stereotypes related to men, such as “Larky roty nahi hain.” Besides, the common practice of snatching creative freedom from our children by forcing them into one of the mainstream professions of our society was also addressed by her in a creative illustration.
By making these illustrations, Wasfa started creating awareness of the illogical foundation behind social taboos and how they affect our generation’s mental health.
See her collection of SOCIAL SETEROTYPES ARTWORK here.
Designing Wedding Invitations
Among smashing-the-stereotypes ventures, we also saw her designing wedding invites. With all things being digital, why not have a digital Shaadi card? She shared some of the illustrations that she made for her clients on her Instagram account.
In case you want to contact her for your wedding card, just know that she only designs the cards, and you have to get them printed yourself.
A 30-Days Challange to Pay Tribute to Legends/Unseen Personalities of Pakistan
After that, she started a 30-day challenge where she paid tribute to the legends or famous/unseen personalities of Pakistan by creating their illustrations. She started the challenge with Arfa and ended it with Quaid-e-Azam.
The best part was that she gave a description of these personalities in the caption. Isn’t it a great way to let people know about the legends that need recognition? You can see all the illustrations of the 30 DAYS CHALLENGE- TRIBUTE TO STARS OF PAKISTAN here.
The Relatable Quotes and Dialogues
Here comes my favorite part of her Instagram journey, where she started making designs of famous quotes or dialogues from movies. The aesthetically pleasing fonts and the serene background images make her designs look so beautiful that you would instantly want to have them on the walls of your room.
Well! The best part is that you can purchase these designs, framed and without frames. Also, their price is a steal. You can shop for these Urdu prints here.
The Perfect Combination of Memes and Illustrations
Wasfa not only offers content on social stereotypes, but you will also get to see some super-relatable desi meme content on her account. The killer combination of her creative illustrations and the desi meme content is sure to add some quality to your Instagram home.
If you love to scroll through memes and aren’t following Wasfs yet, you are missing out on a lot. Her account can surely offer a twisted version of memes you will have a good laugh at.
Creating Difference – UNICEF, Musawi, Dastak, and Many More
Wasfa’s work has not been focused only on memes and social satire. After getting recognition, we see her striving to create a difference. She made illustrations for UNICEF (see it here), talking about educational issues, floods, mental health, and many more. Besides, she also made illustrations for Musawi (see it here), a helpline working for the protection of women’s marriage rights in Pakistan.
Other than that, she is creating art to empower women. By communicating their feelings through her art, she is helping them feel seen. She is highlighting the issues that otherwise go unnoticed.
She recently designed some illustrations on the concept of “Do women feel safe in public places?” in collaboration with Dastak. See her illustrations for PAKISTAN AND ITS WOMEN here.
Bless Your Feed and the Walls of Your Room With Wasfa’s Creative Illustrations
Follow Wasfa’s Instagram (throughwasfa) to get your daily dose of creative content. Besides, you can shop for her Urdu Prints here. Which one of her illustrations is your favorite? Let me know in the comments.
In case you haven’t figured it out already, all the illustrations used in this article belong to Wasfa Kamal.
