KARACHI: Zunaira Ansari, an entrepreneur from Karachi who paints on different mediums including footwear, clothes and luggage, says her business has gotten new followers, and orders, since Malala Yousafzai posted now viral photos of shoes that the Pakistani artist had painted.
Ansari was hired by Nobel laureate Malala’s husband Asser Malik to paint truck art motifs on a pair of shoes he then gifted to his wife during a recent trip to Los Angeles where the couple were on a visit to attend the 2023 Oscars.
When she was first contacted by Malik, Ansari said she couldn’t believe that she would be creating something for Malala.
“I told my sisters about it and I was so excited that I'm going to be painting Malala’s shoes and she will wear them,” Ansari told Arab News in an interview in Karachi. “I didn't believe it until she posted on her Instagram.”
The entrepreneur’s popularity has since skyrocketed and she has attracted new customers.
“When she posted on her Instagram, I started getting real earnings,” Ansari said.
It was also on social media that Malik first found out about the artist's work, she said.
“Asser Malik contacted me through my Twitter, and then he checked my website for more designs. Then we came up with something which represents Malala’s culture and our widely known truck art culture,” she said.
Malik then sent her the shoes and she started painting them immediately.
Speaking about her artistic journey, the entrepreneur said art had always given her “peace, serenity and a sense of completion”.
“It has been my passion since a very young age. When people started appreciating me and made me aware of how worthy my artworks are, I started it as a business in 2019,” she said. “I pursued my passion into a profession.”
Ansari’s commercial artwork also depicts her special love for nature and greenery and her concerns about climate change.
“My room is green because I like to paint in peace,” she said. “When I see the warm climate and environment around me, it pushes me to paint more green things. The world should be more green and clean.”
