ABOUT NIGAR NAZAR
Ms. Nigar Nazar is the first female cartoonist of Pakistan, and also the Muslim World. Five decades ago she invented Gogi (a young female who isn’t afraid to speak her mind) and started designing comic strips for a local newspaper making it the first ever to be set in Pakistan. Since then Gogi has achieved mass popularity and through her she has brought to fore many social and political issues in a humorous manner. Ms. Nazar has also been the flag bearer for Pakistan all over the world through her work, as her cartoons have been published in countries such as Turkey, Libya, Australia, UK, Africa and Kyrgyzstan.
Since the beginning of her career she has been championing the cause of women’s rights and has earned many distinctions such as in 2005 she was conferred the Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah award for her contribution to Art. In 2014 she was chosen by the BBC as one of the ‘100 Global women who had made a difference’. In 2015 a short documentary about her was produced and aired by a leading Japanese Television channel, NHK. While in 2019, she was featured in Maliha Abidi’s ‘Pakistan for Women’, an illustrated book which tells the stories of 50 Pakistani women who have ‘achieved something extraordinary!’
Nigar Nazar is the founder of Gogi Studios which has been involved with various national and international campaigns for creating awareness about social issues since the 1990s. This has been achieved through books, brochures, manuals, posters, hospital murals as well as bus and van wrappings. She has authored and illustrated 30 books for young readers . Her graphic novel on Corruption was launched by The President of Pakistan at The Presidency.
She is twice a Fulbright Scholar and was the first to be nominated for the “Fulbright Specialist Program” at Colorado College. She is also one of the founding members of the Asian Youth Association for animators and cartoonists (AYAAC), China.
Nigar put aside the book which she was working on for The Clean and Green Pakistan, when Corona struck; she volunteered to address children’s mental health by doing a series of Art and Craft programs on her You Tube Channel, under the title of HAPPY HANDS
She has worked in the following areas:
- Women empowerment (as an author and illustrator for NGO STEER)
- Human Rights (STEER as an author and illustrator)
- Child Safety (PLAN as an illustrator and Concept Artist)
- Health and Hygiene (UNICEF as a concept artist and illustrator)
- Corruption (Asian Development Bank, STEER as author and illustrator)
- Interfaith Harmony (STEER)
- Extremism (STEER)
- Girls Education (ICRC as author and animator, STEER as author and illustrator)
- Earth Quake and Natural Disasters (JICA as illustrator)
- Good Governance (Concept artist for US EMBASSY)
