Karachi, Pakistan based illustrator and graphic designer Wajeeha Abbasi spends five days every week working as a brand and design manager at the British Council, Pakistan and the remaining two days juggling between personal projects and freelance client work. Creating under the name ‘Wasabi Illustrations’, Wajeeha confesses that she doesn’t miss holidays because she absolutely loves her work.

After studying communication design at Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture in Pakistan, Wajeeha dove into advertising. However, she quickly realized she wasn’t meant for that space and went to London College of Communication with a full scholarship for an MA to further her knowledge of illustration and visual media. Over time, Wajeeha’s freelance clientele expanded and included names like NASA, Ladybird Books, The London Design Festival, Victoria and Albert Museum, Coca-Cola EU, Maker Faire UK, Zuria Dor, The Doodle Bar and Luna Rosa.

Wajeeha’s portfolio includes a potpourri of projects, splashed with vibrant colors and spanning philosophical themes. They also reflect her desire to create meaningful work and her love for food. We spoke to her over a long Skype call to discuss her work, family, Pakistan, and food.

Wajeeha Abbasi

Tell us about some of your childhood memories.

I come from a very big family. We are eight siblings and I’m the fifth one. I grew up in Islamabad which is a very beautiful place. If I had to describe it in one word I would say my childhood was ‘crazy’. My father was in the Air Force so we used to live in the base and everything seemed pretty safe that time. So we used to just ride bikes down the mountains. I would walk around collecting stones and leftover marbles from construction sites to paint them. I used to also play this household game with my siblings called Fishaan Fishaan, a wordplay on my brother Shayan’s name.

What are some of your early memories of art in Pakistan?

My cousin had joined the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, where I later studied. One day, I saw her creating a sketch of her father and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. That was my first interaction with an artist. Also, my mother was involved in a women’s association where they brought crafts made by artisans in the village to sell in the cities. Those were my first memories of art. But one of the visuals that really struck me was looking at the colors and details on the trucks when we moved to Karachi. Truck art is still an inspiration for me.

What were the challenges you faced when you started your practice formally?

I knew I wanted to study and work in the arts when I saw my cousin sketching her father. I also remember during that event, my father had said, “I’ll make this one an artist.” That got stuck in my head at the age of ten. However, when I was choosing my major in college, I switched from fine arts when I realized I was more inclined towards communication based arts. I started formally in 2012 when I worked on my first client project, which was a book cover for National’s Taste of Pakistan, a cookbook sponsored by National Foods in association with Chef Sahadat. This is when I first began working on my illustration style by simplifying food elements to basic shapes.

When I got out of the university, the first and biggest challenge was that I had to earn. Till you’re in college, everything in your life is planned but after you leave, you feel completely lost. So I jumped into advertising and was lucky enough to work as a graphic designer with Ogilvy. I think one of the most important lessons I learnt there was to deal with clients. I also took up small freelance projects during that time. Eventually though, I understood that I had jumped into the field without really thinking about it. I felt like my work was becoming too commercial and I wanted to do something more meaningful. So I decided to quit and go for my masters to focus entirely on illustration.

Another constant challenge has been networking. I feel that I am terrible at it because I am very nervous when it comes to introducing myself. I try to let my work do the talking by sharing it across social media but sometimes that isn’t enough.

National Taste of Pakistan Book Cover

What did you work on when you were studying Fine Arts?

I was mainly drawing with chalk pastels and sketching with charcoals. It was the first time I had the chance to explore different materials, so that is what I did for two to three years. Later, I realized I wanted to get into the conceptual and commercial side of design. Eventually I ended up loving printmaking too which continues to be a huge part of my work and inspiration. I feel like a lot of my work falls in between screen-printing and digital drawing. It is a perfect blend of fine art and graphic design for me. As we had a chance to explore more mediums and techniques during our foundation year, my interest began to zoom into illustration.

How did you arrive at your illustration style?

Initially, I just loved details. They have the ability to transform and provide different outcomes as you work with various mediums. However, I have also always liked simplified shapes. I used to spend a lot of time studying various artists to narrow down the kind of illustrations I liked and didn’t like. I love using color in my work and that’s an integral part of how I create. It’s quite evident in all my illustrations too.

International Heritage & Museum Conference – British Council

‘Karachi by Day-Karachi by Night’ for British Council Karachi Library

Another constant challenge has been networking. I feel that I am terrible at it because I am very nervous when it comes to introducing myself. I try to let my work do the talking by sharing it across social media but sometimes that isn’t enough.

How do you create a balance between client work and personal projects?

Recently I decided that I would only work on illustration based freelance projects because I already do a lot of graphic design in my full-time job. Along with the client work, I always have a few ideas for personal projects which continue to constantly happen on the side.

I work on a lot of brand based graphic design work at British Council and also get to travel so I have no complaints. This always motivates me to take up more illustration work during my free time. I think it also helps that I love my work. I haven’t taken a holiday since November and it doesn’t bother me.

Were you always inclined to take up a full-time job?

Initially my plan was to work as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer full-time. Along the way, however, I realized that I was hidden in a box. I would sit at home all day and almost never meet any people. So I decided to look for a part-time job where I would leave the house, interact with people, and freelance on the side. At the same time, British Council approached me with an offer to join them full-time. I was really skeptical about it initially, but my father really pushed me to give it a shot. I’m so thankful for that because now I can do both. I’ve been working with them for a year now.

How has Pakistan inspired your work? Are there any specific ways in which it visually or thematically influences your practice?

Having grown up here, I’ve collected so many visuals over time that you possibly can’t find in any other part of the world. The way street art here is about people painting and promoting their business on walls with chalk and ink; it isn’t fancy but is definitely a striking image. Of course, the truck art in all its colorful beauty is a huge influence.

Pakistanis are all about food. We love our biryani and meat. We’re foodies by heart. I was asked to work on the packaging for Himalayas Foods Salt and Rice, exported from Pakistan and for this, I used visuals to depict our culture and tell a story. You can see that the colors of the truck art in Pakistan heavily inspire the illustration style. I think I also borrowed from the flat 2D style of Mughal art to depict the whole story in one illustration.

Himalayas Foods Salt & Rice Packaging

You often talk about the idea of ‘The Self’ and ‘The Other’ in your personal projects. Tell us about your thesis project ‘My Big Book of Self Reflection’ which was based on this premise.

I started off with a very different project where I was working on themes related to war. Somehow though I ended up on the philosophy – ‘The Self and The Other’. I had been thinking about it but not in this context. For me, it was one of those thoughts that I was too embarrassed to share with anyone. However, when I came across Edward Said’s work, it really spoke to me. In every religion we are taught to be the best version of ourselves. I was exploring this idea further with Said’s theory. Initially it was just in the form of prints but later I noticed a narrative and put it together as a book.

This was the time my father was suffering from cancer. I was really close to him and was unable to be physically there with him during his chemotherapy. I think that definitely affected me. I was trying to find something meaningful to give me consolation.

My Big Book of Self Reflection

You’ve spoken about your love for experimenting with mediums. What are the techniques you used while working on your thesis?

I really wanted to explore screen-printing because we had a lovely facility at UAL. I wanted to print on materials that cannot be used for digital printing. For example, the silver paper I’ve used in one of the pages cannot be printed on digitally. I was also looking into etching and woodcuts. However, the medium of screen-printing worked very well with the layers I was talking about in the book since it uses a layered technique to print.

Could you also tell us about ‘Camouflaged’, your photogram series about PTSD in soldiers?

Since my father was in the Air Force, I grew up seeing him rush to work every single day in his uniform. My friends too had parents who were in the Army or Air Force. So from a very early age, the idea of giving up one’s life for others was really inspiring. As children in school, we were taught about the struggles of independence from a very patriotic point of view. However, as I grew up, I began questioning this. Everything seemed meaningless in the end. I came across a poem by WB Yeats, in which two lines really struck with me.

“Those that I fight, I do not hate,
Those that I guard, I do not love.”

Around this time, I also visited the Imperial War Museum in the UK and stumbled upon some beautiful and painful handwritten letters by soldiers. I was able to notice the stark change in the soldiers’ attitude over time, from wanting to fight for their country to growing tired. I wanted to highlight the invisible scars that these soldiers returned with. We reward them with medals, but what is the point of that? They have suffered more than we can even think.

CAMOUFLAGED – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Soldiers – Photogram Series

As children in school, we were taught about the struggles of independence from a very patriotic point of view. However, as I grew up, I began questioning this. Everything seemed meaningless in the end.

How did you choose the technique for this project?

For this project, I was really struggling with the medium. I tried everything from sketching and intaglio to embossing, but nothing was working. Then, I came across photograms. Basically you put objects on top of photographic paper and expose it to light, much like the chemical process of creating photographs. I worked on three experiments and really liked the way they turned out. It looked like X-rays. So I worked with the idea of X-rays of the mind – before, during, and after the war.

If you had to pick one commercial project and talk about it, which one would it be?

I worked on a group project for NASA while studying in London. We were given the opportunity by Channel 4 to create packaging in collaboration with Masterchef Heston Blumenthal. The brief was to create illustrations and design the packaging for the food that Astronaut Tim Peake would consume during his ‘Principia’ mission to the International Space Station.

Since there are a lot of restrictions on the kind of food astronauts can eat in space, the idea was to make the packaging look appetizing. We wanted to make his memories a part of the project so we included visuals of him fishing with his father and outdoor activities with his wife and children. The design process included research on Tim Peake’s personal life and interests. Eventually what went into space were trays made with lightweight paper to hold the illustrative food containers. The whole project was spanned over a few months, but every moment was worth it.

Astronaut Tim Peake with the container

NASA Space Food Packaging

Who are some of the artists that inspire you?

I am a huge fan of Jessica Walsh, Stefan Sagmeister and Sanna Annukka. Some of my other favorite illustrators are Paula Bonet, Noma Bar, Edmund Dulac and Milton Glaser. Among artists in Pakistan, I love Abdur Rehman Chugtai’s work and in local contemporaries, I really like Samya Arif’s work.

If you had to pick out a few things amongst films, books and movies that have influenced you, what would they be?

I love this question. For film, from a design and critical thinking point of view, everyone should watch Baraka and BBC’s Modern Masters. Other movies I love are Submarine, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Interstellar. I also love watching John Hughes films and 80s coming of age films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

I would say my top picks in books are Tunnel Vision by Shandana Minhas, Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque.

I love Indie music and really enjoy digging up new bands. Some of my all time favorites are Keane, Arctic Monkeys, Mt. Desolation, The Vaccines, Alt J, Glass Animals, Joywave, Stornoway, The Last Shadow Puppets and The Killers. Recently, I’ve been listening to Tom Chaplin‘s solo album and The Last Shadow Puppet’s ‘Everything You’ve Come to Expect’ – both are brilliant and so different.

What’s on your mind these days?

Food. I’m trying to be healthy so I’ve been eating a lot of sad food but it has actually been working for me. For personal projects, I have a few ideas in the pipeline which I can hopefully work on soon. I also really want to get back to sketching properly.

Having grown up here, I’ve collected so many visuals over time that you possibly can’t find in any other part of the world. The way street art here is about people painting and promoting their business on walls with chalk and ink; it isn’t fancy but is definitely a striking image. Of course, the truck art in all its colorful beauty is a huge influence.

The Self [Reflects] Other Printed Scarves Series

You can read the rest of the issue four here.