The road to success as a digital artist is not linear
Hana Shafi, also known as Frizz Kid, is a Toronto-based journalism student turned illustrator. In her art, Frizz Kid, who self-identifies as “an Indo-Persian Muslim woman [and] a first generation immigrant,” often depicts people of marginalized identities alongside liberating phrases. She’s most commonly known for her piece, “Healing is Not Linear,” which went viral soon after she posted it in April 2016. Since then, Frizz Kid has had issues with her art circulating online without being credited to her, or even worse, with another name attached to it.
“You put a lot of creativity and love into something, then naturally you want to share it with people and hope that they connect with it,” she said. “I never in a million years thought my art would be getting this much support, would become so popular.”
Unfortunately, in the unmonitored vastness of the Internet, plagiarism is the dark side of popularity. “I got so little attention on my art [at first] that I never really imagined people would be going out of their way to steal it, recreate it and say it’s theirs, or try to make profit off my work without my consent,” said Frizz Kid.
[media-credit name=”Photo obtained by Alora Griffiths” align=”alignnone” width=”1020″]
Frizz Kid is not passive. “I call out folks who plagiarize me. I had a business steal my work once, I demanded they take it down and got my followers to comment on their page. When I saw people selling my work without my consent online, I contacted the legal department of those sites. So I definitely try to stand up for myself as much as I can. But it’s exhausting,” said Frizz Kid. Luckily, her supporters join in the fight against plagiarism. “A lot of times, it’s followers of mine that will send me a link they saw saying ‘[Hey], this person isn’t crediting you,’” said Frizz Kid.
“The arts are a very undervalued practice. People consume and enjoy art every day, but have [a] negative view of artists,” said Frizz Kid. “They think it’s easy, that we’re lazy, and that it doesn’t really matter if they steal it because of how accessible art has become on social media.”
Frizz Kid argued that this disrespect disproportionately impacts women of colour. Frizz Kid was recently featured in a video on the CBC, but suggested that visibility could be both good and bad for racialized artists.“Being featured on media outlets like the CBC definitely helps in getting people to see who actually made that piece they really like. But at the same time, my face is that of a racialized woman. And artists who are women of colour are constantly disrespected and dismissed in the arts community. Sometimes people simply don’t give a shit that they’re stealing from a woman who they feel they have power over,” said Frizz Kid.
It’s important to remember that artists make a living off of their work. “[Plagiarism is] absolutely … inevitable with social media. That being said, it doesn’t mean it’s okay just because it’s an inevitability. When an artist is properly credited, it can change their life. If my work gets posted to a hugely popular account and isn’t credited, nothing happens for me. If I am credited, that opens up a ton of potential opportunities so that I can actually make a living off my work,” said Frizz Kid.
Crediting the artist doesn’t need to be excessive, either. “I totally respect that some people genuinely don’t know. That’s okay. But a lot of people who don’t know will post the image on Instagram with a caption that says ‘I don’t know who made this. Does anyone know?’ Eventually, someone tags me,” said Frizz Kid.
“If nobody knows who you are, how are they supposed to financially support you?”
Photo courtesy of Frizz Kid