Sacha Jafri attempts to raise Dhs110m with record 17,000 sqft painting in Dubai

Dubai-based British artist Sacha Jafri has created a 17,000-square-foot painting in Dubai called The Journey of Humanity which has now been recognized by the Guinness World Record as the largest art canvas in the world.

Located in the ballroom of the Atlantis, The Palm hotel in Dubai, it was unveiled on February 25 by Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Cabinet Member, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, CEO at Dubai Cares.

The artist invited children from around the world to submit their drawings, pictures, paintings, collages and sketches, which in turn inspired him to create the first layer of the canvas on the themes of isolation and connection. The artwork was created over 28 weeks in the Atlantis from March to September 2020 during the lockdown.

Jafri reportedly painted for 20 hours a day, to complete it and used 1,065 paint brushes and 6,300 litres of paint to create this painting.

The Journey of Humanity is part of Jafri’s charitable initiative ‘Humanity Inspired’, which was launched under the patronage of Sheikh Nahayan in partnership with Dubai Cares and Atlantis, The Palm.

“The Journey of Humanity represents my own journey that I embarked upon during the Covid-19 pandemic to fulfill my dream to reconnect our planet. So many people have contributed to this beautiful initiative, in so many different ways at a time when the world had become completely disconnected,” said Jafri.

The sprawling painting has been broken down into numbered, signed, catalogued, and framed canvases.

There are 70 individually framed pieces of ‘The Journey of Humanity’ whih will be sold across four auctions in 2021 with the funds being raised for charitable initiatives in the sectors of education, digital connectivity, healthcare, and sanitation; in partnership with Dubai Cares, UNICEF, UNESCO, Global Gift Foundation, as well as the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence and the Ministry of Education in the UAE.

The Journey of Humanity aims to raise more than Dhs110m ($30m) across live auctions over the next 12 months, with the funds routed through Dubai Cares to the various beneficiary partners.

The funds will support UNICEF’s Giga, an initiative launched last year and led by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to connect every school in the world to the internet. It will also also support UNESCO in their efforts towards facilitating the production and endorsement of a Global Declaration on Connectivity for Learning and Livelihood, which aims to make connected learning more inclusive and more equitable, and will be launched by Dubai Cares and its partners during Expo 2020 Dubai.

In addition, Humanity Inspired will support The Global Gift Foundation’s causes and initiatives which are designed to support projects that eradicate poverty and hunger, ensuring the most vulnerable don’t struggle to put food on the table; giving access to health care and lifesaving treatments as well as providing shelter, clothing and the right to an education.

The public can view select pieces from ‘The Journey of Humanity’ at the Leila Heller Gallery located in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai.