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Look: UAE resident's portrait of Sheikh Zayed was created with 35,000 scarf pins

Anil Kumbanad took 98 hours across a week to complete the work

Abu Dhabi resident Anil Kumbanad has created a portrait of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, using 35,000 pearl scarf pins.

Over the past years, he has been doing many initiatives to mark the UAE’s National Day.

“I have been working here for 23 years. In the past years, I have done oil paintings, written poems and directed an Arabic song on the achievements of the UAE. However, in the Golden Jubilee year, I wanted to do something unique and that’s how I got this idea of making a portrait using pins," he said.

Kumbanad took 98 hours across a week to complete the work.

“I first tried to make an A3 size portrait. It was successful. So, I went ahead with full confidence and it came out well. I worked on this after my office hours. I am proud of the outcome. Many visitors, especially Arabs, have admired the work.”

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The six-feet by four-feet creative work done on a foam board is exhibited at the Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre, where Kumbanad works as a supervisor.

Kumbanad also noted that the number of visitors to the shopping centre has gone up in the past few weeks.

“The number of footfalls has been steadily going up. Business is booming. I hope this momentum continues as we march towards the recovery phase from the pandemic.”

• Abu Dhabi