February 16, 2021

Sacha Jafri with the ‘World’s Largest Canvas Painting’. Courtesy of Humanity Inspired 

Dubai-based painter Sacha Jafri, who is from the UK, has officially earned himself a Guinness world record. Jafri has been working on a painting – ‘The Journey of Humanity’ – since March at the five-star Atlantis resort on Palm Jumeriah. The painting scales over 17,000 square feet and has taken over seven months to produce, working 20 hours per day to complete. The artist worked twenty hours a day for seven months total to complete this work of art. He used 1,065 paintbrushes and a whopping 6,300 litres of paint.

The philanthropic endeavour is part of Humanity Inspired, an initiative started by Jafri to raise $25 million to support educational resources for children, and to aid frontline and healthcare workers in the UAE and worldwide. The initiative is supported by UNICEF, the UAE government, and the Global Gift Foundation charity, a Spanish non-profit aimed at providing support to families in need across the world. In addition to Jafri's abstract-style brushstrokes, dubbed "magical realism," the painting will also feature works submitted online by children from around the world.

Sacha Jafri holding the Guinness World Records Certificate with the ‘World’s Largest Canvas Painting’. Courtesy of Humanity Inspired

“It seems that we’ve become a little self-important as humans, and now there is an opportunity to unlearn everything we, as adults, thought we knew, and re-learn a new understanding of humanity, humility, empathy, and ultimately our re-engaged path ahead, through the souls of our children,” Jafri beforehand advised Arab News. Sacha Jafri added: “It was an honour to receive the Guinness World Records™ title for my project ‘The Journey of Humanity’. This is just the beginning of the ‘Humanity Inspired’ journey. ‘Humanity Inspired’ and ‘The Journey of Humanity’ represent much more than just creative work, it is my initiative for true societal change through the hearts, minds and souls of the children of the world – a springboard for a better future for all Humanity.”

Jafri is not new to this kind of fame and is known to have created paintings for celebrities ranging from Barack Obama to Madonna. The 43-year-old artist is described by Humanity Inspired as “one of the world’s most celebrated living artists who is well recognized for having raised more than USD 60 million for charities across the world from the sale of his art.”