Bangladesh born illustrator and author Fahmida Azim who works in the USA has been selected for the 2022 Pulitzer prize under the category of “Illustrated Reporting and Commentary.” She is one among the four journalists who have been selected for the prestigious award. The others are Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey. They have been given the honour for their work on the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs for Insider Online magazine. The work titled ‘I escaped a Chinese internment Camp’ has illustrations by Fahmida Azim. She was born in Bangladesh but now works from Seattle in the USA.
She moved to the USA with her family members when she was a child and grew up in Virginia. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from VCUarts. Most of her works are in the digital media but she also enjoys working with the old fashioned traditional mediums such as acrylic paints, gouache and ink. Her art is primarily about themes of identity and autonomy.
According to an article in The Dhaka Tribune, Fahmida is the second person from Bangladesh to win the Pulitzer Prize. The first was Mohammad Ponir Hossain who won the prize in 2018 for feature photography as part of the Reuters team of photographers for his pictures of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Insider is an American online media company known for running the financial news website known as Insider which was earlier known as Business Insider. The organisation has often published Fahmida’s works as an illustrator and story teller. Her creations focus on themes of identity, culture and autonomy.
On her website, Fahmida has stated that she enjoys drawing human figures. She says that her objective is to depict real people living extraordinary lives. Earlier this year she won the Golden Kite award for her work in “Samira Surfs.” This book has been written by Rukhsanna Guidroz and published by Penguin Random House. The story is about an 11 year old Rohingya refugee girl named Samira who lives in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh but finds peace and enjoyment in surfing.
The books where Fahmida’s illustrations have earned world wide praise include “Muslim Women Are Everything” , “Amira’s Picture Day” and “Samira Surfs.” Her editorial work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Insider, Scientific American, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New Humanitarian and other publications. At present she is working on her debut solo graphic novel Mega Megha for the publishing company Scholastic Graphix.
The citation for the Pulitzer award said that the above mentioned people have been selected for the prize for using graphic reportage and the comics medium to tell a powerful yet intimate story of the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs, making the issue accessible to a wider public.
On her website Fahmida has posted some of her paintings which include one of film actress Kajol, and another of Eartha Kitt, the American singer, actress, comedian, dancer and activist known for her highly distinctive singing style and her outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. There is also a painting of the dish Nihari (the dish is a meat based stew famous in the Indian sub-continent). Other than people, Fahmida also loves to paint pictures of food.
Another of her paintings is based on Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian lawyer who has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists following the Iranian presidential elections of 2009 as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. This painting of Sotoudeh was published in The New York Times.
Fahmida’s other published works include illustrations titled Fasting For Ramadan, Muslim Grief And Identity After Christchurch, and Preventing Student Suicide. All her illustrations have a distinctive style and certain common characteristics which can be identified as her own personal touch. It is heartening to note that an illustrator who was born in the Indian subcontinent has been honoured with the Pulitzer award with her team. It is likely to inspire more talented painters and illustrators from the region to aspire for international laurels and recognition. In the future we may see more young men and women following in the footsteps of Fahmida Azim.
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