Virgo Raani — A celebration of the South Asian Virgo woman

Senna Ahmad
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

It all started when Kajal Mag wrote a piece on the upcoming August solar eclipse (read here). Zahra- a total astrology junkie for funsies- was intrigued. “Everything is going to change” said the opening sentence. While this could mean good or bad things depending on your outlook on life, what really caught Zahra’s eye was the artwork. Each horoscope was accompanied with an illustration by Ayqa Khan, a brilliant South Asian artist based in New York City who’s challenging Western beauty norms through her work. Being a Virgo, Zahra quickly scrolled down the page to see what August had in store for her. The content was sublime, but the illustration even better. A beautiful, dark, full-bodied woman with a tiny beauty mark on the left side of her face, just above her lips, was clad in shalwar kameez picking flowers for her Virgo basket. Zahra’s face softened. It was her.

Okay, technically Ayqa didn’t draw her, but the illustration resonated with everything Zahra believed to be true about herself; the full body, the distinct beauty mark, and the being one with Earth (Virgo’s element). She posted about it on her Instagram story, and other South Asian women Virgo friends quickly caught on and started reposting the Kajal Mag/Ayqa Khan illustration. It was remarkable how similarly they all felt about the illustration. Which led Zahra to an idea- why not do a South Asian-inspire Virgo photo shoot? She’d barely seen anything like it on the internet. Zahra connected with her photographer and fellow Virgo friend Senna Ahmad, who immediately took it into stride. A Facebook group was created, a bunch of other Virgo girlfriends were added, and a plan was made- all within an hour. Senna also created a Pinterest board for inspiration, which also included Virgo quotes by Amrit Brar from her “Shitty Horoscopes” series (spoiler alert: they’re anything but). The Pinterest board only furthered the group’s drive to partake in the photo shoot- all posts related to the Virgo sign featured white women. (Of course).

People of color, especially women of color, have a strong history of challenging the status quo since the beginning of time, and we’re increasingly seeing the media pay attention to these efforts. Representation matters, and this is Zahra and Senna’s attempt to contribute to this movement of claiming space in mainstream media and subsequent conversations. So the next time a brown girl/woman searches for some inspiration online, she’ll hopefully see a reflection of herself and who she is, and not what Western beauty standards think she should be.

We’re hoping to turn this into a regular series for all horoscopes. If you are interested in being photographed, please contact Senna and Zahra at sennahmad@gmail.com and zahra.haider@gmail.com

Inspiration: Kajal Mag, Ayqa Khan and Amrit Brar

Concept: Zahra Haider

Styling: Senna Ahmad and Zahra Haider

Makeup: Senna Ahmad, Zahra Haider and Sara Qamar

Photography: Senna Ahmad and Zahra Haider

Editing: Senna Ahmad

Special Thanks: Hoor, Nafisa, Sara, and Priyanka

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