Sacha Jafri, the award-winning Dubai-based artist with a penchant for breaking records, has found a great spot to display his next masterpiece: the Moon.
Yep, Jafri, who has made Dubai his home since 2002 and is a Golden Visa recipient, is planning to send his next work We Rise Together – with the Light of The Moon to its new permanent home on the moon, with the help of Jeff Bezos.
The artwork, which shows a heart that contains two intertwined human figures, according to a report from Khaleej Times, will be sent in the ‘first ever art mission’ to the moon.
The project will reportedly be unveiled in Dubai next week, and pays tribute to the original NASA Apollo mission to the Moon from 1969, 53 years ago.
This will also lead to something of a space race: On one side, we have Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Reef and his artistic partner Sasha Jafri, and on the other SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Jeff Koons, who are putting together a similar mission.
Jafri speaks on the Jeff Bezos-backed moon installation
“[The artwork is] a human heart to drive home the central theme of the mission, which is love and empathy. These emotions rise above all forms of discrimination. Our world faces four major issues. Equality for all, sustainability, education and healthcare are the four pillars that need to be strengthened to save Mother Earth,” Jafri told Khaleej Times.
“Love and empathy are the key emotions that guide us. Our future is not technology, our future is human. Expression and embrace come from our new world, which is aided by technology but driven by humanity.”
The second that the artwork lands on the moon, five NFTs will also simultaneously become available to a charitable collection, while the only physical artwork will sit permanently on the moon.
The NFTs will capture the whole mission at five different stages, from launch, to circumnavigation of the earth, to a sling-shot around the moon, to its landing, and the resting of the artwork, the report said.
The artwork will also contain 88 unique hearts that will go along with the painting—which will also become ‘moonheart NFTs’, with an auction to come later. All the funds will go to charity, according to Jafri.
Jeff Bezos’ life in space
It’s been nearly a year since Bezos launched himself into space for the first time, fulfilling a lifelong mission.
Blue Origin, Bezos’s rocket company, put out an announcement lastMay that it’s first flight with its New Shepard rocket would auction off a seat to the highest bidder. The Rocket can carry up to six tourists per flight.
On his Instagram, he opined about how his first Blue Origin trip wasa fulfilment of a lifelong goal.
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.
Nearly 6,000 people bid to be a part of the trip from 143 countries across the world.
“To see the earth from space, it changes you. It changes your relationship with the earth, with humanity — it’s one earth,” said Bezos in his announcement video.
Sacha Jafri breaks records
Sacha Jafri also made history last year. The Dubai-based British artist and philanthropist officially set a Guinness World Record title for the largest art canvas in the world, scaling over 17,000 square feet.
The painting, entitled ‘The Journey of Humanity’, was created during the COVID-19 lockdown in Atlantis, The Palm’s ballroom, which the artist converted into a studio, spending 28 weeks from March to September 2020—for an estimated 20 hours a day—painting his masterpiece, which has been described as ‘the modern-day Sistine Chapel’.
The piece, for which he used 1,065 paint brushes and a whopping 6,300 litres of paint to create, is part of his charitable initiative ‘Humanity Inspired’, supported by over 100 A-list celebrities and launched under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Cabinet Member, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence in partnership with Dubai Cares, part of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives and Atlantis, The Palm. It’s considered the largest worldwide social, artistic and philanthropic initiative in history.
“It was an honour to receive the Guinness World Record 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’ is much more than a painting, it is my initiative for true societal change through the hearts, minds & souls of the children of the world – a springboard for a better future for all humanity,” said Sacha Jafri.
“If one person can spend 20 hours a day (on four hours sleep) for seven months continuously creating a painting of over 17,000 square feet on his own, imagine what 7.5 billion people could do together if we stopped the nonsense of discrimination, judgement and agenda. One World, One Soul, One Planet’,” the artist continued.