By: Lily Darling
August 6, 2019
Maria Qamar, better known by her Instagram handle @hatecopy, is a Desi-Pop artist whose art refuses translation. After working as a copy editor (hence the pseudonym), Qamar turned to art as a form of therapy.
“[IN] THE ENVIRONMENT I WAS RAISED IN, ANYTHING THAT WAS ART RELATED WAS SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED OF,”
Qamar told Kulture Hub before the opening of her show FRAAAAAANDSHIP, now on view at the Richard Taittinger Gallery through Sept. 2.
“THE ARTS ARE SUCH A PREVALENT THING IN OUR CULTURE. LOOK AT THE TEMPLES AND LOOK AT THE MOSQUES AND THE BUILDINGS AND THE ARCHITECTURE AND THE FOOD–EVERYTHING IS ART. IT’S STRANGE TO ME HOW A CAREER IN THE ARTS IS LOOKED DOWN UPON.”
After posting a drawing on Instagram inspired by the work of 1960s pop-artist Roy Lichtenstein — but now with full lips, brown skin, a bindi, and a speech bubble proclaiming “I burnt the rotis” — she began to gain a devout following.