Maria Qamar, a Desi-Pop artist who became Instagram-famous for her South Asian art, is hosting her first solo show in New York City at the Richard Taittinger Gallery until September 2nd, a contemporary art gallery that focuses on international artists who are under-represented.
Qamar, who has over 179,000 followers on Instagram, was born in Pakistan and moved to Mississauga, Ontario at the age of nine. Much like many South Asian immigrants, she faced bullying and racism at a young age and struggled to fit in.
But today, that is not the case at all, a line wrapping around the block formed outside the gallery on the Lower East Side as fans and art aficionados waited to get a first look at Qamar’s art in real life. The pieces and the artist they have been admiring over Instagram waiting just through the gallery doors and larger than life — literally — with a giant floor-to-ceiling sized lota (a water jug that’s used as a bidet), looming inside the gallery.
“We were very committed to showing a female artist and Maria's specific and engaging style was something we knew would be appealing and exciting," says Jenna Ferrey, Research and Business Development for Richard Taittinger Gallery. "It was so exciting and really wonderful to see how much Maria's followers and collectors support her. The Desi community has really shown up to celebrate Maria and her work and I think it speaks to the importance of recognizing that everyone needs to be able to see themselves and their community represented in the larger cultural conversation. I am really pleased that Maria has managed to create a space in our gallery that belongs to the Desi community and that her work's narratives have been able to reach out to and inspire viewers from all backgrounds and from all over the world.”
Qamar’s Instagram account, Hate Copy, reads as a fly-on-the-wall look into the conversations young South Asian people have only with their siblings, cousins and closest friends. Anyone who is from South Asia and has grown up in North America can immediately relate to her funny, yet very accurate, take on the issues first-generation immigrants encounter while navigating life between their two cultures. And Qamar heself is the epitome of your favorite sibling or cousin, with her witty, caring, and open personality, you can’t help but feel like you’ve known her forever.
In true Desi-fashion, Qamar didn’t tell her parents that she was pursuing art as a career until it was inevitable. “A career in modern art has always been faced with challenges. More so in Asian cultures because it represents an anti-stability aspect; the idea that you could always be at risk of losing money,” says Qamar. But after gracing the cover of Elle Magazine in Canada, her parent’s became aware of their daughter’s work — partly due to their friends and family congratulating them. To which she amusingly still responded, “it’s just this art thing, don’t worry about it.”
"Another issue is that almost all art establishments such as galleries and museums have not catered to a people of color audience and have alienated a huge part of the world because of it,” adds Qamar.
While she has decorated the sets of Mindy Kaling’s The Mindy Project with her art, when I asked her what was the moment she realized that her business had made it, she responded by humbly saying that currently sitting down for an interview with Forbes may be the actual moment.
Her work is also exhibited at New York City’s The Bombay Bread where she created a large mural and San Francisco based restaurant Besharam which not only features her work painted on their walls but also embellished on the restaurant’s dishes.
On creating art for a living, Qamar had this to say, “I didn't realize I could do this full time until I was doing it full time. Projects kept coming and I was able to keep up with life. Compared to what I was getting at a corporate job, my paychecks reflected exactly how hard I worked every day.”
From the outside looking in, success seems like it happened overnight for the artist, but that’s not quite the case (is it ever?). “I've been working my whole life it seems to find my place in the art world. It's all I had ever known to do. A background in advertising helped to strategize and create campaigns for shows and launches. But it took 28 years to get here.”
In fact, the name of her Instagram handle 'Hate Copy' was a direct result of her previous occupation. "Hatecopy was a name I chose when I had just started college. It was my way of expressing my distaste for the career I was forced to pursue instead of the arts — which was copywriting," she laughingly shares.
"I would love for everyone to attend the exhibit and bring their family to experience the work in person as well. I also encourage everyone to get to know each other in the gallery - in a digital age where most of us can feel isolated and alone, it's important to bond over physical experiences in safe spaces designed to inspire change."
When asked what advice she would give up-and-coming female artists and entrepreneurs, she said, “I would give the same advice I gave myself when I felt like there was absolutely no-way-in-hell I'd make it into the arts: do whatever it takes to get there anyway. If you can't find a lane, make your own .”
