This Artist Captures Endearing Father-Daughter Relationships through Vivid Illustrations

Debasmita Dasgupta is a development communications professional based out of Singapore, who has been making illustrations ever since she can remember.

She decided to put her efforts into bringing about social change through art with her project ‘My Father Illustrations,’ in 2013.

Women across the world face sexual violence and discrimination through age old practices such as child marriage and female foeticide.

Debasmita wanted to create awareness about ideologies that empower women instead of suppressing them.

Her inspiration came from watching a TED talk given by an Afghan woman named Shabana Basiji, who shared her experience of being intellectually liberated by her progressive father while they were living under the Taliban regime. Shabana’s father told her, “Remember, they can take everything from you, except your knowledge.”

She took these words very seriously and returned to Afghanistan to start a school after finishing higher education in the US.

Debasmita’s first illustration was of Shabana, and since then she has continued using art as a medium to share uplifting stories about fathers who have sought to support their daughters despite social pressure.

She said, “Every story makes me believe the world has a lot of positive energy that we need to share, to be good and do better.”

The illustrations that feature in the series are all based on true stories, which she collects from various sources such as news items, non-profit organizations, and other communities. Her project has also prompted father-daughter duos to write to her; she features their personal stories through her vivid illustrations as well.

Debasmita has published over 200 stories from around 46 countries.

According to her, “There is an urgent need to share the voices of fathers who are fighting all odds or breaking stereotypes to protect the rights of their daughters – be it their right to birth, right to education, right to protection from different forms of abuse, or their freedom to express their emotions and experiences. Through this platform, I am trying to amplify these voices.” The illustrator, who cites Marjane Satrapi as one of her biggest inspirations, also recently started a project called Doodle with Dad (DwD). In a bid to collect stories from the grassroots and from communities in need, she partnered with local organisations as well as non-profit enterprises to facilitate community art camps for fathers and daughters. After her first two DwD art camps, she realised that fathers who came from underprivileged backgrounds were extremely encouraging of their daughters’ ambitions.

While elaborating on the response from communities, she said, “They wanted their daughters to find the best education and find happiness by serving their communities. They wanted them to lead by example many other younger girls. I am always open to collaborating with other nonprofits to organize more DwDs in communities.”

Check out her blog or Facebook for more endearing stories & illustrations.

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