Shehzil Malik
Shehzil Malik is a designer, illustrator and social activist. Through her creativity, Malik sheds light onto socio-political issues, taking a stance against inequality, injustice, a patriarchal society and gender biases. For her work towards gender equality in South Asian societies, she was presented with the UN Women Yvonne M.T. Herbert award.
The artist’s bold, energetic, colourful and powerful work grabs and holds the viewer’s attention, the messages embedded in her art impacting people across communities.
An array of creative projects Malik has been part of, centre on her work as a social activist, fighting through art for human rights, against racism, violence and harassment towards womxn.
Her projects include, creating posters for The Aurat March (Womxn’s March) held annually on International Womxn’s Day in solidarity with and to emphasise womxn’s rights in Pakistan.
Drawing compelling portraits of womxn to highlight important causes, urge critical thought and change, Malik’s art as a form of resistance, has filled the streets and walls of her home country Pakistan.
In 2019 for The Aurat March, Shehzil Malik did a series of artworks around body autonomy, with the slogan ‘My Body my Choice’, relaying personal stories about rape, FGM and the high mortality rate of womxn.
The artist’s posters were downloaded from her website to spread their message, pasted on streets, in offices, bus stops, schools and universities. The power of art was charging through, the posters even travelled to the Oslo Freedom Forum to amplify the message of womxn’s rights, showcasing what was happening in Pakistan, and despite opponents who had targeted the posters and some of the Aurat March Team having received threats.
For the 2020 Aurat March, Shehzil Malik had an open call “for all womxn and transgender artists, of any age, from across Pakistan to volunteer their art and voice.” With Malik’s posters “dedicated to our collective hopes and dreams for the womxn of Pakistan. In the centre is a girl pursuing her education. On top are womxn at the core of our economy- the home-based workers keeping our crafts alive and the farmers who work in the fields. Below, the archways lead to a world where girls and womxn are safe outdoors, happily cycling, walking and being themselves. The central figure is also an homage to Malala and her quote, “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” With the Womxn’s March dividing society, the posters were once again torn down form public spaces, but as Malik expresses, “these posters represent a Pakistan that is also for womxn, and we fight on.” Which she did and continues to do, creating posters for the 2021 and 2022 Aurat March, with the posters once more available through her website to be shared and pasted onto the streets.
Other projects by the artist include applying fashion as a way to communicate the message of womxn’s rights, placing art onto t-shirts, as well as art directing projects such as with ‘Embroidered Dreams’, a book which tells of the 50 years the nonprofit Behbud has trained womxn in the traditional crafts of Pakistan, empowering them to save their communities from falling into poverty, as well as highlight the craft of fashion.
Through her striking and engaging design, fashion, illustrations, drawings, posters, book covers, storytelling, Shehzil Malik’s art reaches out to speak on matters affecting womxn in South Asia, gathering communities through art and togetherness.
Shehzil Malik works on social impact projects through digital art, publications, textile and public art. She was a contributing artist and panellist at the Oslo Freedom Forum 2019 and has previously worked as an art director at Ogilvy & Mather, Lahore. Her commercial practice includes clients like Penguin Random House, Oxfam, Malala Fund, Marvel, New York Times, GIZ and Google.
For more information about the artist: http://www.shehzil.com
All pictures courtesy and copyright of Shehzil Malik © / Click on each image for title of artwork, details below:
1-Image on main 'Stories Made In Art' page Feminist art meets Fashion. by Shehzil Malik
2-Shehzil Malik, Portrait by Kayhan Anjum Suleman
3-Aurat March Poster 2019 by Shehzil Malik
4-Aurat March Poster 2020 by Shehzil Malik. "My poster for 2020’s Aurat March was dedicated to our collective hopes and dreams for the womxn of Pakistan. In the centre is a girl pursuing her education. On top are womxn at the core of our economy- the home-based workers keeping our crafts alive and the farmers who work in the fields. Below, the archways lead to a world where girls and womxn are safe outdoors, happily cycling, walking and being themselves. The central figure is also an homage to Malala and her quote, “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” "
5-Aurat March Poster 2020 by Shehzil Malik
6-Aurat March 2019. 'My Body my Choice' by Shehzil Malik
7-Aurat March Poster 2021 by Shehzil Malik
8-Aurat March Poster 2022 by Shehzil Malik
9-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. The Art. "I looked around at the young womxn around me- young girls pushing the boundaries of “Pakistani” female behaviour by being unapologetically themselves. These were the girls I wanted to draw as part of our society instead of being seen as outliers."
10-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. The Art. "I looked around at the young womxn around me- young girls pushing the boundaries of “Pakistani” female behaviour by being unapologetically themselves. These were the girls I wanted to draw as part of our society instead of being seen as outliers."
11-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. The Art. "I looked around at the young womxn around me- young girls pushing the boundaries of “Pakistani” female behaviour by being unapologetically themselves. These were the girls I wanted to draw as part of our society instead of being seen as outliers."
12-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. The Art. "I looked around at the young womxn around me- young girls pushing the boundaries of “Pakistani” female behaviour by being unapologetically themselves. These were the girls I wanted to draw as part of our society instead of being seen as outliers."
13-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. Taking the Art to the Streets."Because the artwork was made with the intention of talking about public spaces and to start conversations, I took its photo-shoot as an opportunity to create art for the streets of Lahore."
14-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. Taking the Art to the Streets. "Because the artwork was made with the intention of talking about public spaces and to start conversations, I took its photo-shoot as an opportunity to create art for the streets of Lahore."
15-Feminist art meets Fashion. Art & Design by Shehzil Malik. "I had started by drawing a girl with her insecurities and internal monologue written across her clothes- “Is my shirt not long enough?” But now I wanted to flip the script. I wanted the clothes to say, you are enough. You are you."
16-Book 'Embroidering Dreams, 50 years of Empowering Women and Preserving the Craft of Needlework: Behmud Crafts'
Designer + Art Director: Shehzil Malik
Author: Sonya Rehman
17-Brown is Beautiful by Shehzil Malik
18-Brown is Beautiful by Shehzil Malik
19-Women in Tech: Inspiration, No Fairytales. This book illustarted by Shehzil Malik, presents 30 inspiring womxn working in technology from all around the world, as part of the #eSkills4Girls initiative. Women in Tech is published by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development to be distributed within development circles of the World Bank and the United Nations. Art direction by BunnyIsland.
20-'A Girl Called Genghis Khan: How Maria Toorpakai Wazir Pretended to Be a Boy, Defied the Taliban, and Became a World Famous Squash Player'. Book illustrations by Shehzil Malik. Written by Michelle Lord. Published by Sterling Children’s Books
21-'A Girl Called Genghis Khan: How Maria Toorpakai Wazir Pretended to Be a Boy, Defied the Taliban, and Became a World Famous Squash Player'. Book illustrations by Shehzil Malik, for the true story of Maria Toorpakai Wazir, a Pakistani girl who loved sports and longed for the freedom that boys in her culture enjoyed. A Girl Called Genghis Khan is published by Sterling Children’s Books. Written by Michelle Lord.
22-COVID-19 Response: "This artwork was made as a tribute to health professionals and to bring to light their demands for more personal protective equipment (PPE) without which their lives are in danger while treating patients."-Shehzil Malik
23-COVID-19 Response: End Hunger Now!
“As the country gets locked down, daily wagers and their families are the ones to be most severely hit. It’s been calculated that a family needs an average of PKR 4000 to feed themselves for a month. That’s what a single meal at a fancy restaurant can cost for many of us. It’s the year 2020- no one anywhere should go hungry when there is enough wealth in this world. This is not a utopian fantasy but the redistribution of wealth activists and academics have been talking about for decades. It never happened because those in power never cared enough, and the rest of us never put enough pressure. But the time to change is now here.”