Gallery Feature
'FIGHT BETI, FIGHT!' Exhibition Shakes Parisian Art Scene
“FIGHT BETI, FIGHT!” is the new exhibition by artist Maria Qamar, highlighting gender inequality, for the first time in Paris at Phillips Auction.
It all began on Instagram, where Maria Qamar, artist Desi-Pop found her first audience. Under the username of @hatecopy, she now has a community of almost 200k followers on the platform. Maria finds inspiration in society’s most important issues such as gender inequality; her work is created with the American Pop Art aesthetic to convey a personal and feminist message. Genius, when you realize that all major Pop-Art artists are mostly all males. Indeed, it is through art that Maria transcends this universal message: the fight for gender equality, in order to convey this so ever-important message.
To understand why this battle is at the very centre of Maria’s art, we have to go through her past. Born in Pakistan in 1991, Maria Qamar moved to Canada when she was 9 and grew up in between both cultures. Still, through her art, she manages to break stereotypes and make her own rules. Since 2018, she’s been showing her work as a professional artist. Taking Paris by storm, “FIGHT BETI, FIGHT!” is Maria’s first exhibition in the French capital. In Phillips’ auction gallery, her retrospective work seems necessary, while staying fun and colourful. Through her ironic, immersive and interactive experience, she conveys such an important message for women, full of humour and against oppression. Maria Qamar elegantly throws one-liners at us, that will stick with you for a while and awaken your mind to these inequalities.
“Never give up,” one female figure says in Maria’s painting. A life motto for women around the world, and now a clear message from an artist that has so much to offer. Maria Qamar’s exhibition “FIGHT BETI, FIGHT!” also offers a store full of powerful pieces to get your feminist message out there, in the world. ■
“FIGHT BETI, FIGHT!” from December 4th to 20th Phillips Gallery, 46 rue du Bac – 75007 Paris
Words by Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle
Photos provided by artist
