World’s largest painting to raise $30 million for charity

DUBAI: British artist Sacha Jafri has unveiled a 70 framed sections of his work “The Journey of Humanity”, the world’s largest painting on canvas, which will be auctioned off to raise millions for charity. The 44-year-old contemporary artist hopes his Guinness World Record-holding painting, which spanned 1,595.76 square metres (17,176 sq ft) of the ballroom at Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm hotel, will spark a humanitarian movement. The colourful painting now adorns the walls of the luxury hotel’s ballroom in 70 separate framed pieces of varying sizes that will be sold at auctions in the coming years. The aim is to raise at least $30 million to fund health, sanitation and education initiatives for children in impoverished parts of the world. But Jafri, who is currently based in Dubai, said he has an even bigger goal. “I don’t want this to be a one-off thing... I want to actually help change the world, and the way to do that is we’re going to put the Internet in all the poorest communities of the world,” the artist said. “Then we can bring education in, and give (children) a real education... and where are they going to put that? Back into their community. “All you need is five success stories from those communities, and you can change the world. That’s what we’re going to try to do. It’s going to take 10 years, but we can do it.” HUMANITY-INSPIRED For Jafri, the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic across the globe has resonated with him, highlighting a break between humanity and the planet and driving him to focus his efforts on connecting people to counter its impact on children. “When humanity becomes disconnected from the soul of the Earth, it’s a far bigger problem than Covid-19 will ever be,” he said. “We were allowing the destruction of the planet, that’s well known, but what isn’t well known is that we were allowing the destruction of humanity. That’s unforgivable,” added Jafri, sporting a paint-splattered blazer over jeans, a white T-shirt and cowboy boots. — AFP