isma gul hasan is an illustrator, artist and designer from Pakistan. She earned a B.Des with honours from Beaconhouse National University, and an MA in illustration with a distinction from University of the Arts London.

Moving between drawing, writing, printmaking, painting, photography, digital illustration and animation, their practice explores themes of belonging, resistance, love and community through depictions of landscapes, bodies and flora. Approaching reading as an interpretive, visual tool, they work closely with text, and aim to build a fluid, ever-evolving practice against systems of surveillance, domination and control.

Her client work spans the realms of visual development and art direction for film and animation, as well as design for music, web, publishing, events, civic education and social change. Her projects include art direction for Shehr-e-Tabassum, a critically acclaimed cyberpunk film by Puffball Studios, one of the pioneering animation studios in Pakistan. Her illustrations have appeared in The Funambulist, South Asian Avant-Garde (SAAG), Digital Rights Monitor, and the Commonwealth Foundation’s literary magazine, adda.

She previously served as Assistant Professor of Practice at the Department of Communication & Design at Habib University, Karachi, where their pedagogy focused on the visual culture of protest, speculative design, and the illustrator’s role as storyteller, author and visual interpreter. 

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