Being a teenager is probably the best time of one’s life, but it can also bring with it a period of turmoil and strife. The story of Sarah is about such a teenager who wants to pursue her dreams but is feeling stifled with her family taking her for granted. She keeps suppressing her dreams in her quest to be a perfect daughter, until she reaches a stage where she cannot hold it any more.
Author Ayesha Tariq has portrayed this story through a quirky graphic novel that tells the story of a 17-year-old obedient Pakistani daughter from a conservative urban family who goes about doing her house chores and keeps everyone happy.
Born in Karachi in 1988, Ayesha graduated with a design degree from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. She works as a designer, illustrator and an improve artist and is currently the creative head at the Citizens Archive of Pakistan and the managerial director and improviser with The Platoon. “I was interested in art for as long as I can remember. I loved making cards and drawings and I use to enter my work in various competitions,” she shares and adds, “It was in my intermediate that I realised that I want to pursue this field professionally. I was set on doing an illustrative project for my thesis, and this was the one I took forward. Because the idea was not borrowed and came from within me, I was able to talk like myself, which is quirky, humorous and sarcastic, with a dark subtext,” she reveals.
Ayesha felt it was the relatability of the book with many girls her age that probably go through similar situations that inspired her. “The book is about a young girl’s everyday life, and she is venting to the readers, talking directly to them. She narrates the account of her life stating the subtext of the situation.
This idea came to me when I had an argument with my parents and angrily, I scribbled the title down — I also had the pressure to submit thesis proposals the next day. I myself had considered this idea a ‘back-up’. I’m glad my thesis advisors urged me to explore this further,” she shares and adds, “This made me face the anger that I felt when I pondered over how unfair and dismissive society can be to women. When gender discrimination is spoken about, usually the extremes are discussed. Nobody points out the discrimination that has almost become habitual. That’s because it’s ancestral! Nobody raises a question because they don’t want to be labelled as ‘over-sensitive’ or ‘petty’.” The book is about everyday life and questions its norms.
Ayesha confesses that her illustrations stem out of her passion for observing people. “I’m restless, so I like to keep getting involved in different workshops and projects. This allows me to learn more, get a new experience and understand people. One of the challenges of the book was that I was very close to it. I was so close to the character that sometimes I would feel almost paralysed in between illustrations. I would be scared to draw if I felt what I would draw would be uncharacteristic of Sarah.”
