Yasmine Nachabe Taan interviews Moroccan (Andalusia-Based) activist and comics author Zainab Fasiki. They start the conversation discussing her how she has been an avid reader of French comics as a teenager in Fez. Then discovered political comics from Moroccan and Arab authors, and started developing narratives, and drawing characters in her notebooks, unconsciously turning her notebooks in comics books. When she turned 16, her older brother gave her a graphic tablet as a gift, believing in her talent and this allowed her to start publishing her illustration at an early age.
Trained as an engineer, and after a short professional stint in the field, she returned to her childhood passion and took on comics and illustration as a career. She was inspired by comics magazine such as Samandal in Beirut, Garage in Cairo, Skifkif in Casablanca. She attended workshops by the renowned Skifkif comics collective and trained herself further by undertaking illustration projects for social causes. The conversation started with discussing Zainab's collective Women Power in collaboration with Jawjab, a cultural space in Casablanca that brings together girls from popular neighborhoods and offer them training workshops, networking and mentoring opportunities.
Zainab candidly discusses her studies as engineer and her travails to find her place in the Art world and into the illustration profession. Her interest in drawing started from her early school days and her facination with drawing the human (and female) body in particular got her into trouble with her teachers and classmates. Even in later years she faced censorship by Instagram and social media because of her drawings, thus facing censorship from both humans and computer algorithms. This led her to decide to publish her graphic novel Hshouma (Shame) and to explore and question why the female body is often censored. She followed her passion and is still surprised by her success: publishing Hshouma which got translated to 5 languages, followed by four other comics books, and traveling the world participating in workshops with some of the best people in the field.
The conversation moved to the sustainability of making a living out of illustration. She worked in an engineering office next to her work as graphic artist until it became untenable with travel and commitments. Moreover, the harassment and death threats in Moroccan online media against a group of 20 feminists (artists, journalist, authors),among them Zainab, led her to move to Andalusia Spain in 2024, which reminded her of her city of origin Fez and made her feel home. She was forced to leave Morocco to continue practising her work as illustrator.
Zainab discusses her first comics, Feyrouz Versus the World (2018), published by the Beirut-based comics publishers Toshfesh. This was then followed by her renown Hshouma (2019), Iraniana (2024), Madame Haram (2025), Féministes Musulmanes (2026). She states that her books are her eternal babies, and that they are a beautiful and peaceful means to fight social taboos. She talks about her characters, the symbolism behind her color palette (bright colors and unreal with blue skin inspired by hindu goddesses) that lighten-up the heavy and sad topics she tackles in her work.
Zainab Fasiki is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: Khatt Books, 2024).
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Zainab Fasiki, born in Fez, Morocco, in July 1994, is a mechanical engineer by training. Comics became her escape in a society that doesn't accept women's decisions about their bodies and careers. After gaining online recognition for her courageous illustrations since 2016, she has published her comics with publishers such as her graphic essay Hshouma (Shame) in 2019, Iranienne in 2024, Madame Haram in 2025, and Feministes Musulmanes in 2026. She currently resides in southern Spain.
Connect with Zainab Fasiki 👉 https://instagram.com/zainab.fasiki
Hosted by Yasmine Nachabe Taan
Dr. Yasmine Nachabe Taan is Associate professor of Design and Design History at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut.
She holds a PhD in Art History and Communications Studies from McGill University. Her research focus is on design writing and research, visual culture and gender representation, design, media, photography and visual culture in the Middle East and North Africa. She publishes articles on visual culture in a number of international journals. She has illustrated more than twenty children’s books and has participated in a number of residencies in Berlin, Cairo, Beirut and Bratislava. Her artwork has been exhibited in New York, Berlin and Beirut.
Connect with Yasmine Nachabe Taan 👉 https://www.instagram.com/yastaan/
Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns
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