Sacha Jafri is attempting to create the world’s largest painting at Dubai's Atlantis, The Palm

His work is for a project named 'Humanity Inspired', which aims to raise $25 million for charitable causes

Sacha Jafri will attempt to create the world's largest canvas painting. 

For the last few weeks, artist Sacha Jafri has been self-isolating at Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm.

However, it isn't just due the Covid-19 pandemic but rather for another reason: he wants to create the world's largest canvas painting. The work, once finished, will measure 160 metres long, larger than the size of two football pitches, and fill up two large ballrooms in the hotel.

Jafri, who is from the UK and lives in Dubai, isn’t just out to break records – though once completed, the painting will hold the Guinness World Record of "largest social, artistic and philanthropic project to ever be created". He started the project, named Humanity Inspired, with the intention to raise $25 million (Dh91.8m) towards educational resources for children, as well as for hospitals and healthcare workers within the UAE and internationally.

His initiative is held in collaboration with Unicef, the Global Gift Foundation charity and the support of the UAE government.

To help fill the canvas, the artist has invited children from around the world to send in their drawings themed around isolation and connection, which he will then add to the first layer of the painting. The final version will contain 300 layers of paint.

Jafri hopes to receive artworks from millions of children from over 120 countries. When the project was announced in May, he received more than 6,000 submissions from 40 countries on the first day.

On Instagram, Jafri says he has been working for more than 20 hours a day to finish the piece, which he aims to complete in 12 weeks.

He writes that he hopes the work will “keep the magic of the child within us… Forever”.

Once the work is completed, the canvas will be split into 30 panels and sold in an online charity auction.