By Manasi Nene
You’ve probably seen Hatecopy’s work online, nestled among cat videos and outrage. Known for her distinctive pop-art style, Maria Qamar’s work tackles a lot of desi stereotypes, like the taboos around homosexuality, the snoopiness of all the aunties around you, and love of samosa, our collective cultural opiate. Now, she’s out with a new book – Trust No Aunty – which will be available in India in August.
Inspired by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, Hatecopy’s work is bold, defiant and a fairly honest representation of all of our troubles with the system of morality we’re trapped in. Qamar was born and brought up in Pakistan but moved to Canada a year before 9/11, and a lot of her work seems to be inspired by the dissonance and the racism that she encountered.
Colourful and unforgettable, feminism is a strong theme in Hatecopy’s work. Her characters want to stay out late at night, not worry about strange men leering at them, eat to their heart’s content and generally take down the patriarchy. The artist comes fully prepared, armed with enough snark and bright pichkaris of paint to take over social media.
Recently published, this book is about “living life, eating one chappal at a time by the hands of our beloved elders” — her words, not mine. Sound promising. A tongue-in-cheek guide to surviving nosy aunties, the generation gap between us and our aunties is also a huge part of Qamar’s work. Though it doesn’t seem to be available in India just yet, we’re willing to wait. If Hatecopy’s other work is anything to go by, we’re sure it’s going to be a riot.