UAE teacher gifts 'iconic' Mahatma Gandhi's portrait made out of 5,000 recycled buttons

In an iconic display of gratitude and unconditional love for her motherland, a Sharjah-based art teacher designed a massive 40cm by 30cm portrait of India’s freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi using over 5,000 recycled buttons to observe India’s 75th Independence Day. In a post shared on Facebook on her personal account, Rashida Adil can be seen unveiling the legendary work of art that she had been toiling over for the last 3 months to present on the occasion of Independence Day to her beloved home country India. Clad in the tricolour from the Indian national flag, Rashida, along with a co-teacher and Sharjah Indian Association president EP Johnson visited the Consul General of India (CGI) in Dubai, Aman Puri and dedicated the framed “masterpiece” to India. 

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Rashida was quoted by a state broadcaster as saying that her “patriotic” artwork was her dearest pursuit amid the coronavirus pandemic lockdown and she had tirelessly dedicated more than 4 hours each day using the concept of recycled buttons to create Gandhi’s artistic imagery. A resident of UAE for over 29 years, Rashida’s love for her country had grown tenfold as she said that she had been dreaming to dedicate her hard-worked art piece to her home country. It was a “tribute” to India, she reportedly said. Further, the teacher expressed deep emotions when spoken about creating the piece, saying, that she invested her heart and soul into the artwork. She substantiated her efforts with emulating the freedom fighters, such as Mahatma Gandhi, who had toiled relentlessly during the freedom struggle for the country. The difference was her “putting efforts in creativity”.  

Created single-handedly

Speaking about the creative aspect of the piece, Rashida reportedly said that she had mostly used the recycled orange, green, white, and black buttons on the portrait with a patriotic flavour to the background to compliment the occasion. She used thousands of buttons that were contributed by the students of Sharjah Indian School in Juwaiza, as per the reports. Although she single-handedly created it, Rashida gifted the art to the CGI on behalf of her students and school.  

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