Sacha Jafri and the ultimate power list

The UAE's political and business leaders are among the 60 world figures being depicted as the most influential Muslims of our time in an attempt to shatter negative stereotypes and promote an understanding of what it means to be Muslim.

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, will be featured in a series of paintings by artist Sacha Jafri.

Jafri, who is one of the most well-known British painters right now and has raised his profile painting the likes of David Beckham and Sachin Tendulkar, told Emirates Business that he has been commissioned by the UK-based Mosaic Initiative, which was founded in November 2007 by the Prince of Wales to support young Muslims and their peers growing up in deprived areas, while breaking down barriers within society.

There are all kinds of power lists, but the aim of this one, Jafri says, "is to feature a cross-section of global icons that may or may not be recognised as being Muslim, so as to unite the world and raise awareness through the power of art".

Jafri, 32, spoke to me at his plush Dubai apartment on The Palm Jumeirah, where he lives with his wife.

"But this isn't about creating deities," he says when asked about the religion's discomfort with graven images.

Twenty-one canvases will be produced and auctioned, with proceeds going to the Mosaic Initiative. Given Jafri's following among collectors around the world, it is hoped the sale will raise close to $10 million (Dh36.72m).

"We work in areas where the majority of young people are Muslims but we don't just support Muslims. We aim to create a platform to encourage and support young Muslims around the world as well as to improve interfaith relations, common misunderstandings and geographical isolation. We aim to expand our reach if the necessary funding can be raised and it is for this reason that Sacha's support and this particular commission is both exciting and incredibly important to us," John O'Brien, Managing Director of the Mosaic Initiative, said in an e-mail statement.

Jafri will also paint several UAE businessmen, including Majid Al Futtaim, Abdulaziz Al Ghurair and Mohammed Alabbar. Others on the list are boxer Muhammed Ali, sportsmen Zinedine Zidane and Imran Khan, Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, businessmen Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and Azim Premji, and musicians Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) and Busta Rhymes. While some canvases will focus on just one person, others will pull together achievers in similar fields. The project was announced last November, but the list of personalities (see box) was only finalised by Mosaic this week and was made available exclusively to Emirates Business.

And in a rather clever stroke, Jafri, whose paternal heritage is Islamic, is painting United States President Barack Obama as an honorary Muslim. "Obama is a Christian, but he has made serious inroads into bridging the gap and repairing relations with the Muslim and Arab communities," he says.

"His being linked to this project will give the American people a better understanding of what it means to be a Muslim."

The US leader drew on his Muslim ancestry and his years growing up in Indonesia in a speech at Cairo University yesterday.

The paintings, then, will not be classic portraits, but will be executed in Jafri's multi-layered energetic style. Each eight-by-six-foot canvas will be a montage of newspaper clippings, poignant moments in the subject's life, ground-breaking achievements, inspirations and specific ideas on what their faith means to them – all obtained through interviews with the artist. Some pictorial representation of the person or persons will be set against this backdrop, alongside a positive message from the Quran. "Not actually writings from the Quran, but an interpretation of its messages on peace or how to be a good human being," Jafri says.

The artworks will each incorporate a piece of memorabilia associated with the subject (Jafri hopes these are along the lines of Muhammed Ali's gloves) before being rounded off with each person's handprint and signature – "so everyone knows I'm not just sitting in my studio churning these out", he quips, even as he admits that most of the work will be executed at the Sharjah studio that has been made available to him by the emirate's ruler.

Jafri wants to finish this rather Warholian project by the end of next year, following which the works will be exhibited around the world, including here in the UAE, in the United Kingdom, Jordan, Qatar, India and the United States. They will then be auctioned at three events in Abu Dhabi, New York and London. Through his work Jafri has so far helped raise $7m for charity.

"One of the conditions of the sale is that the paintings will be put on public display – so the legacy will go on forever," says Jafri.

Legacy is clearly important to him and in various meetings with me, it's a subject he always comes back to, speaking of his burning desire to produce one brilliant collection that can hold up to Picasso, Kandinsky and all the rest. This series, in particular, fits with his need to capture and be recognised as depicting the current zeitgeist. That his work commands high prices (a work purchased for £40,000 [Dh238,088] in 2006 changed hands last year for £185,000) or that celebrities such as Madonna and George Clooney pay those amounts, is not important – his only ambition, he says every time I interview him, is "to become an important artist of this century".

"I would pay to have this commission," he declares, when I ask whether he's making any money on the project. "Obviously my costs are covered, but the fact that art hasn't been used to influence society like this since the Cold War art of the sixties, just being part of such a huge socio-political initiative at a very sensitive moment in history is massive. I may not be making any money, but it will raise my profile."

Perhaps that means he can charge more for his next collection, another grand project and one he has already begun thinking about.

Titled The Middle East Before Oil, it will see Jafri travel to 20 countries in the region, including such hot spots as Iraq and Afghanistan, where he will be under the protection of the British High Commission. In each place, he will produce two or three paintings that reflect its ethos, that demonstrate what sets it apart from the rest of the region.

"The Middle East is seen as one homogeneous mass, but it isn't really – I want to re-individualise each country and explore the identities that people seem to have forgotten after the discovery of oil," he says.


Jafri's 21 canvases; being produced in three sets of seven

First Seven Canvases:

- Muhammed Ali

- Zinedine Zidane

- Imran Khan

- Omar Sharif

- Joint Canvas: Aamir Khan (actor) + Azim Premji + Shah Rukh Khan

- Sportspeople: Jahangir Khan + Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Hicham El Guerrouj + Nicolas Anelka + Amir Khan (boxer) + Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher Al Maktoum + Nawal El Moutawakel

- Joint Canvas: Yusuf Islam + MF Hussain + Mohamed El Erian + Mukesh Ambani


Second Seven Canvases:

- President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi

- His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

- Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah

- Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar + Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, consort to the Qatar Emir

- Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade

- King Abdullah of Jordan

- Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud


Third Seven Canvases:

- Charitable figure heads: Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum + Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammed Al Qasimi + Reem Al Hashimy + Basma and Yasmeen Alireza

- Next generation: Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahayan, Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, Prince Tamim bin Khalifa Al Thani

- Businessmen: Sheikh Mohammed bin Issa Al Jaber + Nasser Al Kharafi + Majid Al Futtaim+ Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem + Mohamed El Erian + Mohammed Al Shaya + Mahdi Al Tajir + Sheikh Walid Al Ibrahim

- Entrepreneurs: Esam Janahi + Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, Mohammed Alabbar + Amir Nizar Zuabi + Abdul Majeed Ismail Al Fahim + Saeed Al Tayer + Mohammed Al Amoudi + Abdulaziz Al Ghurair + Yusuf Ahmed Kanoo + Said Khoury + Maan Al Sanea

- Anousheh Ansari

- Entertainers: Ice Cube + Busta Rhymes + Don Cheadle + Coolio

- Honorary Muslim: Barack Obama

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