If you haven’t checked Google today, please do. Now that you’ve seen it, this is a doodle of Huda Shaarawi for her 141st Birthday designed by none other than Aya Tarek, a talented painter, street artist and illustrator.
For those who do not know her, Tarek has showcased her artwork in many exhibitions and events all over the world. Hence, it is no surprise that Google commissioned her to do a special design commemorating Huda Shaarawi on this icon’s birthday.
Huda Shaarawi was a pioneer when it comes to feminism in Egypt. At a time when women had little to no rights, Shaarawi led the 1919 women-led protest advocating for Egyptian independence from Britain, she organized lectures to educate women and eventually founded the Egyptian Feminist Union.
“I learned about Huda Shaarawi in school, but at the time it was surface level information. One day, I went to her house in Zamalek with my friends and decided to read about her on google for the full story. The thing I found inspiring is how she passed through the most difficult time, and yet fought through it anyway,” Tarek told 925Egypt.
For Tarek, the Google design she produced was a special one. But it was no easy task for a designer. Tarek shared that there were limitations from Google when it came to selection of colors, branding, the inclusion of other female characters, and a certain backdrop.
“I picked a backdrop that wasn’t stereotypical. This is not the kind of painting I am used to doing. This is more of an illustration. I worked with Google’s art director which was a new and challenging experience,” Tarek said.
If you look at the art well, you’ll notice that it has bold colors from Google’s logo along with the careful placement of female characters that represent different women in the Egyptian society. There is one doing sports, one holding books, one wearing formal clothes, and some wearing traditional clothes. Huda Shaarawi herself is placed in the middle.
“My starting point is in her portrait, after that was the Cairo landscape and then all the female characters came into the design,” Tarek explained.
According to Tarek’s interview with Google, her inspiration came from photographs of feminist protests in 1919 and what the Cairo cityscape looked like at the time. She hopes that people who see the doodle are reminded how Egyptian women have been educated and self-empowered.
“I think that it is important to remember Huda Shaarawi and to remember that fighting for women’s rights and equality for minorities isn’t something coming from Europe. This is something in Egypt too and we need to continue fighting, and continue being inspired by people like Huda Shaarawi,” said Tarek.
It is women like Huda Shaarawi to look up to and to remember how difficult things were in the past. School and education is almost the norm now and perhaps we surely owe it to people like Huda Shaarawi for opening up a school for girls in 1910 that focused on teaching academic subjects for a change.
When asked what she would say or do if Tarek ever got the chance to meet Huda Shaaraw, she laughed and said, “I’d draw her a portrait and give it to her to hang.”
925Egypt previously interviewed Tarek on her beginning in art and making a living as an artist. Tarek had her fair share of struggles in art and in making it.
From a student at Alexandria University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to a renowned artist that gets commissioned to do work around the world, Aya Tarek, shares with us the tricky parts of making a sustainable living as an artist and the significance of remembering why she ventured into this world in the first place. Watch the interview we had with her at SOMA Art School & Gallery!
Posted by 925 on Monday, December 16, 2019
In the video above, she shares her own experiences and says that in the beginning, “You’re not well-known. You are now a student at the faculty of fine arts. And no one knows about you…Of course, it’s about word of mouth and all. And you know someone who knows someone. I didn’t know anyone.”
Just like any life, there are struggles, but a huge part of ‘making it’ requires patience and perseverance. Much like Huda Shaarawi’s story too.
