Moroccan illustrator using comics for #MeToo campaign
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, December 12, 2024


Moroccan illustrator using comics for #MeToo campaign
Zainab Fasiki, a Moroccan cartoonist and activist for women's rights, poses with her latest book entitled 'Hshouma' in the western Moroccan coastal city of Casabalanca, on March 17, 2021. Around a dozen students and professionals have gathered for an art workshop with Fasiki, a 26-year-old pioneer in comics and illustration in the North African country, in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo -- "Ta ana" means "Me Too" in Moroccan Arabic dialect -- that depicts women's real-life ordeals. Fadel SENNA / AFP.

by Sophie Pons



CASABLANCA (AFP).- Young Moroccan cartoonist Zainab Fasiki draws on a whiteboard in a Casablanca studio where she is holding a workshop that mixes art with a homegrown illustrated #MeToo campaign.

"We are here to change this rape culture, which says the victim deserves what they get while the criminal is innocent," says Fasiki, 26, her eyes flashing with indignation.

A dozen students and professionals have joined forces with Fasiki, a pioneer in comics and illustration in Morocco, in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo that depicts women's real-life ordeals.

As part of the series -- "Ta ana" means "Me Too" in Moroccan Arabic dialect -- she illustrated the harrowing testimony of a 22-year-old woman who for years was raped by her brother, to the indifference of her parents.

Unlike in the broader #MeToo movement, the Moroccan women who have agreed to share their stories for the campaign have preferred to remain anonymous.

Series producer Youssef Ziraoui says rape victims in Morocco not only have to deal with a sense of "shame" and the risk of being cast out by their families, but can face charges for sex before marriage under Moroccan law if they go to the police.

The participants in the Casablanca workshop are looking for creative comebacks to some of the toxic reactions the campaign has elicited.

"Choose a negative comment and respond to it," Fasiki says, as the group gets to work on tablets or with paper and pencil.

Fasiki, who calls herself an "artivist" (an artist and activist), says art is "a major instrument of change".

"Images have power, particularly on social media."

'Revolution, resistance'

The illustrator, her dark hair cropped in a short bob, says she became a feminist at age 14, when she began to feel that often "being a woman is a sin" in the North African country.

"There is a culture where men correct women, keep an eye on them -- it's a patriarchal system," she says. "Men treat us as if we weren't humans who are responsible for our choices."

She is pushing through her illustrations for "changes to laws written by men, for men, to control women's bodies", she adds.

The self-taught Fasiki says her artistic training involved reading comics as a child, drawing in her bedroom as an adolescent, and "meeting authors at comics festivals" when she was old enough to travel.




Fasiki became known on social media for her nude self-portraits and for illustrations showing "the female body as it is, without taboos".

Her book "Hshouma" (modesty) -- a term she says covers "the culture of shame" around women's bodies in Morocco -- took her to a wider audience, in a country where sex education is also taboo.

"Some feminists think that drawing the naked female form doesn't serve the cause," she says.

"I think it's a revolution -- a form of resistance in the face of a patriarchy-based history."

Stifling talent

Fasiki says she was unable to find a local publisher for "Hshouma", and the book's first edition was instead published in Paris in 2019.

Florent Massot, her French publisher, told AFP the book had had "good sales" in Morocco.

"Zainab is very courageous," he said. "She is always very positive even though she gets insulted a lot on social media."

Fasiki is preparing for an exhibition at a contemporary art museum in Tetouan, and will also be teaching at a fine arts school in the northern Moroccan city.

She says she is looking forward to countering "artists who preach against artistic nudity", and wants to "develop the female presence in art".

First and foremost, that requires helping girls "escape the control of their family", says Fasiki, adding that she was influenced by French feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir and her seminal work "The Second Sex".

"When I started to publish (my work) on social media, my family told me, 'either you stop or we don't consider you a member of the family anymore'," she says.

But she was undeterred.

"This type of control over children, who are doing nothing wrong apart from living their passion, has destroyed thousands of talents," she says.


© Agence France-Presse










Today's News

April 3, 2021

March of the mummies: Egypt readies for pharaohs' parade

Poussin painting stolen by Nazis found in Italy, returned to owners

UK offers £400 mn to aid culture's Covid recovery

VMFA acquires portrait by iconic 16th-century woman artist Lavinia Fontana

Phillips to host inaugural sales at 432 Park Avenue in June

Hindman to spotlight centuries of watchmaking in Important Timepieces from a Private Collector auction

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to New York with 1-54 Online, powered by Christie's, 17 - 23 May

Alex Vardaxoglou exhibits a group of works by pioneering British artist Richard Smith

P·P·O·W opens an exhibition featuring the paintings of Aaron Gilbert and Martin Wong

It's never too late: The art of de-cluttering

Michael Friedlander, urban architect of offbeat designs, dies at 63

Hungary egg decorator brings new spin on ancient craft

Largest selection of Annie Leibovitz portraits ever offered coming to Heritage Auctions

Cydne Jasmin Coleby's first solo exhibition in London on view at Unit London

Medusa fountain commissioned by the late Gianni Versace to be offered at auction

Memorabilia auction lets bidders take home a piece of Magic Kingdom history

Art Bridges announces Ashley Holland as Associate Curator

Morphy's announces details of sensational April 27-30 Firearms & Militaria Auction

Anger among UK musicians 'forgotten' in Brexit deal

Neue Auctions announces online-only Fine Estates Collection Auction

Crozier Fine Arts and Arius Technology launch commercial, conservation-quality 3D scanning platform

Moroccan illustrator using comics for #MeToo campaign

195th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy now available to view entirely online

Eye Art and Film Prize announce their 7th edition winner on 1 April 2021 in Amsterdam

How to Hire Dedicated Laravel Developer in India?

Oleg Firer, world-famous rum, Grenada star obituaries and other noteworthy aspects of Grenada lifestyle

How to Clean a Green Swimming Pool in a Professional Way

THE MOST GOOGLED ARTISTS IN THE WORLD

Clenbuterol Canada




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful