Students create 3D portrait of Shaikh Zayed

Symbolising peace, rest and sorrow, the pixel portrait created by students of Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, honours Shaikh Zayed.

When love and pride meet hard work and creativity amazing things are often the result. A talented group of 15 male students at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi campus are an example of this.
The group of creative young men from the College of Business and the College of Communications and Media Sciences, formed the Spots Multimedia club in 2012 and have been developing innovative projects since.
This past fall they embarked on an ambitious project for the UAE Innovation Week - a pixel portrait of the founder of the UAE and of the University they attend, the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Starting with a detailed plan, the young men led a team of 70 students over 96 hours to hand paint 7,225 individual blocks of wood of varying lengths, to create a dynamic 3D portrait of a man who still inspires the citizens and residents of the UAE to reach their dreams.
The pixels represent the ecosystem of the UAE - where one pixel does not define the whole, rather all the pieces working together do. The dominant use of green is meant to symbolise peace, blue for rest and black to represent sorrow.
The work of art therefore represents their sincere wish that Shaikh Zayed may forever rest in peace.
Saleh Nasir Bin Hallabi, one of the project's innovators, told Khaleej Times that the portrait is meant to honour Shaikh Zayed, whilst also revealing young artistic talent and innovation.
"The portrait itself was inspired from the idea of pixel art, but we made it into a 3D artwork."
"Each of the colours have a reference: green is peace, blue is rest, and black represents the sorrow we had when Shaikh Zayed passed away. So as a result, we are saying rest in peace."
The 23-year-old pointed out that representing the UAE and its leaders as one family was also another inspiration for his team.
Other students who participated in the mega project said: "It's not just a beautiful design, it's a beauty that emerged from selection, passion, teamwork, integration and love."
"Angle of Zayed is a masterpiece," said Dr Fatima Al Darmaki, Assistant Provost for Students Affairs.
"I have not seen anything like it. Through this piece of work, a group of students demonstrated creativity, innovation, teamwork, love for the leaders of UAE, and hard work," she added.
"They were amazing and for that they won the well-deserved first award of the First Student Innovation Competition 2015-2016."
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com