Dubai students paint mandala to create a world record

A group of students from GEMS Modern Academy presents the huge painting at Arabian World Records

SM Ayaz Zakir

Published: Sat 22 Oct 2022, 7:17 PM

A group of students in Dubai created a world record by painting a growing mandala, with their names inscribed on it at the Arabian World Records.

Students from GEMS Modern Academy started painting the mandala on a piece of canvas in 2021 and added more canvas to grow it to the present size of the painting to 10.35 x 10.16 metres.

Advertising

A mandala is painting with a geometric configuration of symbols. Traditionally they may be used as attention and spiritual guidance tool as an aid to meditation.

From the school event, Terra Vista, where they started the painting, the students have taken it forward to various places, adding more circles and colours to represent every place.

One of the students, Zuha Iman, said from the school event, they took the mandala to Expo 2020 Dubai during the ICAN Summit. “The mandala was displayed at the summit, where we used turmeric, coffee, and other sustainable items as colours to grow it further,” said the Grade 12 student.

From a few students, the members of the team increased to 14. Those in the team are Anisha Kataria, Hannah Misquitta, Ailya Fatima, Dina Syed, Jiya Damania, Amy Varghese, Vaibhavi Shekhar, Rida Khan, Mahek Varyani, Akshaj Suresh Kumar, Neha Noorish, Melissa Almeida, Priyanka Thadani. The painting was done under the mentorship of Jignyasa Patel.

Team of students who painted the growing mandala with their mentor.

Iman, who was interested in art since her younger days, took up it as an optional subject. She found like-minded students and started working on ideas to create the growing mandala.

She said the team is adding rings and colours to the painting as it moves from one place to another. “This signifies the number of places it has been to,” she added.

The last ring and patterns added to it were during the recent sustainable event at their school. She said the students will be taking it forward to different places whenever they get an opportunity.

The mandala consists of patterns, scripts, and various designs. Iman was deputed for Arabic script and calligraphy with other students carrying out other tasks.

“This is actually based on sustainability art and therapy, and this is where the idea began as we wanted something interactive,” added Iman.

She said their team is targeting a Guinness world record in near future.

ayaz@khaleejtimes.com