Zainab Fasiki (b. 1994, Fez, Morocco)
Zainab Fasiki is a mechanical engineer, who is also licensed as an illustrator and graphic novelist in Morocco. As an activist fighting for women’s rights and individual freedoms, Fasiki runs comic-strip workshops at universities and non-profits, both in Morocco and elsewhere. She is also the founder of the /WOMEN POWER/ collective, which invites female artists to participate in workshops helping to nurture the next generation of artists. In 2018 she won the Amnesty award for activists, and in 2022 she won the Bravery Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.
The book [Hshouma], whose title roughly translates as “shame,” pairs the artist’s playful illustrations with discussions of sexuality, gender-based violence and censorship. “I want every Moroccan to read it because we have nothing on these topics at school or at home,” she says. “It’s a kind of guidebook.” – Time Magazine, 2019
Fasiki decided to become an artist and created the illustrated comic book and project Hshouma (shame), which aims to break taboos in Morocco, in particular to change the way women and her bodies are perceived in society. – UN WOMEN, 2021.
Zainab Fasiki’s bold drawings confront patriarchal societies and denounce taboos related to the female world in Morocco and beyond. Her works decry the profound inequalities that characterise the relation between men and women, the culture of harassment, and the shame to which women are subjected. Rendered in a vibrant palette, Fasiki’s depictions of women challenge stereotypical notions of beauty. Whether adorned with a veil, clad in superheroine attire, or presented nude, these figures exude strength.