Maria Qamar is a first-generation Canadian from a traditional South Asian family; her mother is Indian and her father Bangladeshi. She moved to Canada at the age of nine, in 2001, and had to endure bullying and racism as a young girl in a post-9/11 world.

Qamar found her artistic calling five years ago on Instagram as @Hatecopy, where her illustrations resonated with the Desi community, particularly the second generation. Art became a way for her to deal with what it’s like to be brown and South Asian in North America at the beginning of the 21st century. Depicting beautiful Bollywood women with ironic dialogue bubbles, Qamar’s paintings evoke the difficulties of Desi life in this day and age, and the challenges that come with being a South Asian millennial. Her book “Trust No Aunty” was published in 2017. Her work has been exhibited at AGO Toronto, Mumbai’s Comicon, and London’s OXO Tower Wharf. In addition, she has appeared in print and online publications such as NPR, CBC, HarpersBAZAAR.com, The Toronto Star, FLARE Magazine, Bon Appetit,… Mindy Kaling is also among her admirers, and has even included her work in the Mindy Project.