DIY generation: Visual Poetry

Artwhoring, Priyanka Paul's immensely popular Instagram account, is about "starting and perpetuating discussions through art". The illustrator, poet and social media influencer says it is through art that she best expresses herself, especially on themes such as feminism, sexual liberation, menstruation and body shaming.

Also an avid poet, she uses a combination of the written word and her drawings to start conversations and engage the extremely interactive audience she finds on social media.

"I believe art's supposed to rile you up, make you rethink everything, even the norms of patriarchy. So that's exactly what I do with my art," she says.

Paul, who says she's been doodling from the time she could hold a pencil, began taking art seriously when she was introduced to subjects like sociology and political science at St Xavier's College in Mumbai. Her exposure and the various perspectives she sees in class influenced how she saw the world around her.

Two years ago, she set up an Instagram page to share her work. "What I love about social media is that it's a two-way conversation. I get a lot of feedback and I'm always learning from the audience," she says.

One of her first posts dealt with body shaming. She has since covered a wide range of themes, challenging social norms and traditional gender roles.

"When I choose a particular theme, be menstruation or about goddesses, I'm not judgemental. I'm trying to learn. I'm open to different points of view, and in some cases inculcate these in my art too. I'm learning that I need to extend the boundaries of what I'm talking about. Take the term feminism itself. I've realised it's not intersectional yet and leaves out issues of caste and so on," says the artist.

Paul has got over 16,000 followers in the two years since she set up ArtWhoring.

"It's been increasing organically and gradually over the years," she says. But last year in May, when her 'Goddess' series went viral, she was featured across a number of media sites, and her following surged considerably. The popularity of the series took Paul by surprise.

"It was inspired by my friend, poet Harnidh Kaur's 'Pantheon', which speaks about goddesses from different cultures fighting for feminist and sexual liberation. I created the illustrations just to show her how much I appreciate her words," she says.

According to Paul, people feel more about something when it is presented in a visually appealing way. And so, when there's something in the news that affects her, Paul makes sure to air her views on ArtWhoring.

"That's what is brilliant about social media-everyone has a voice and everyone can be heard," she says. Paul finds her biggest inspiration in poetry. Through her illustrations, she says she's attempting "visual poetry".