portrait
Prize for artistic courage: Zainab Fasiki, from mechanical engineering to queer “artivism”
Zainab Fasiki won the 2022 prize for artistic courage.
© D. Pasamonik
Text by: Sophie Torlotin Follow
4 mins
The Artistic Courage Prize rewards each year on the sidelines of the Angoulême International Comics Festival an author who stands out, in his country, for his bravery, whether through comics, press cartoons or humor .
Succeeding the Algerian Nime, winner 2020, it is a young Moroccan designer who is in the spotlight this year: Zainab Fasiki.
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With our special correspondent in Angoulême,
She is only 27 years old but already a strong character, and a drawn silhouette: mouth underlined in red, bob cut and eyes outlined in black.
It was during her studies in mechanical engineering that she embarked on feminist activism through drawing: "
I started working at the age of 19 doing internships in factories and it was a depressing experience , because I was hearing sexist comments.
I did well, I was first in my class in a predominantly male student environment, but I wanted to show that success had nothing to do with sex.
When I was 19, I published a self-portrait on my social networks where I represented myself naked with elements of my culture.
And it became my signature.
»
Once published, this drawing caused controversy, attracting criticism, but also support, to the young girl.
Very contrasting reactions that encouraged her to persevere.
While continuing her studies at the National School of Electricity and Mechanics in Casablanca (from which she graduated as a state engineer in mechanics in 2017), Zainab Fasiki embarked on political cartooning.
The young woman finds in this mode of expression her way of getting out of it and promoting her ideas: defense of the LGBTQI+ community, activism for the modification of the articles of law penalizing the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVG) or the sexuality outside marriage.
"You don't have to be wise anymore!
»
She launched the collective Queer Women Power, which encourages Moroccan women artists through workshops.
And then she published in September 2019 with Massot editions a graphic essay entitled
Hshouma: body and sexuality in Morocco
, which she presents
as a guide to queer and secular sex education
for all Moroccans aged 13 and over.
"
It's a sex education that we can't have either at school or with our parents
," explains Zainab Fasiki.
The "hshouma" is shame, it's censorship.
For example, if you see two people kissing in the street, it's "hshouma", on TV it's "hshouma", the body is "hshouma".
I try to break this culture and give value to the female body, its artistic and spiritual value.
With us, we only link it to sex and we have created so much frustration and controlled women... I, who am a Moroccan woman, have experienced this delirium to remain a wise woman, and I say to women: "
You don't have to be wise anymore!
"
, she says with a laugh.
Multi-platform artist
If Zainab Fasiki recognizes that Morocco has changed enormously since the 1990s, thanks to the action of feminists who fought to modify the family code in 2004, she thinks that there is still much to do.
Harassment on the Internet will not make her change her course.
The young woman finds that there are more and more Internet users who dare to express themselves on inheritance or sexuality via social networks.
She continues to distribute her drawings on the networks, but also uses NFTs, these digital certificates of ownership which designate unique art objects on the Internet.
Using a very secure secret language, protected by a
blockchain
, a kind of ledger, NFT is traded in cryptocurrency, digital money valid only online.
Zainab Fasiki therefore uses digital tools to avoid censorship.
But it does not neglect the traditional modes of distribution: paper edition or exhibitions.
In March 2020, she launched her exhibition "The new order" at the Galerie Venise Cadre in Casablanca, which illustrates the Moroccan woman of all classes.
The author was honored by Amnesty International on the International Day of Women Human Rights Defenders, November 29, 2018, in Rabat, Morocco.
His visit to Angoulême, to receive the prize for artistic courage awarded by the Off du Off (in partnership with
Actuabd
), allowed him to meet several publishers.
Zainab Fasiki's international career is just beginning.
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