Love and Other Lies

Hafsa is a visual artist based in Lahore, Pakistan. She completed her BFA from the College of Art and Design, University of the Punjab, Lahore, in 2021 and graduated with an MFA in 2023 from the National College of Arts, Lahore. She has exhibited her work in several group-shows throughout Pakistan.

Hafsa’s work is rooted in her personal experience of toxicity within a joint family system, particularly within the South Asian cultural context. While such living arrangements have their advantages, they also come with significant challenges, especially for children who may be deeply affected by the negativity that arises. Marital conflicts, complex family dynamics, and disputes over inheritance often create intricate emotional entanglements and fractured relationships. For Hafsa, sketchbooks became a form of catharsis—an outlet to document the intricate realities of her family life as a means of coping. The imagery in her work is rich with symbolism, drawing from both her domestic environment and imagined spaces of escape. Influenced by book illustrations she admired in high school, her work carries an element of dark humor, reflecting the raw and sometimes traumatic impact of growing up in a large, often contentious household.