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Celebrating 50 years of World Heritage, UNESCO unveils Sacha Jafri’s art inspired by world heritage sites

Global art curator and visionary Marcus Schaefer brings to life a ground-breaking concept to exhibit art with exceptional artist Sacha Jafri, at UNESCO’s Paris HQ.

Sacha Jafri UNESCO 50 Years World Heritage Sites

September 21, 2022: In celebration of the 50th anniversary of world heritage, UNESCO is presenting an exhibition under the theme ‘The Next 50: World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation’, inviting the world to imagine our relationship with and responsibility for heritage in the face of rising global challenges. 
 
Artist Sacha Jafri’s exhibition of World Heritage Sites at the UNESCO HQ Great Hall will be displayed as sculptural artworks suspended from the ceiling, with the fuselage from the outer skin of a decommissioned Airbus A320-211 as his canvas. It is part of an upcycling initiative, aligning with art curator Marcus Schaefer’s aim to exhibit art outside of the confines of the traditional gallery space. This airplane, that has taken passengers to these sites for several decades and now, gets a new life as Mr. Jafri’s 12 sculptural artworks, celebrating those same sites and continuing the journey as an everlasting legacy for the cultural heritage of our world.

Sacha Jafri UNESCO 50 Years World Heritage Sites
 
“Giving this aircraft – which connected the world for decades – a second life through pieces of Sacha’s Art Maze collection that have been created with the same objective, just feels like a further natural step into the right direction for me. I’ve always been passionate about touching and connecting people through art in unconventional ways. To shine a light on heritage sites around the world with this exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris is a great honour for us all,” said Mr. Schaefer.
 
Through his exhibition during the European Heritage Days, Mr. Jafri aims to inspire the public with a new appreciation of our colourful and fragile world, rooted in his conviction that reflections, dialogues, empathy and collaborative efforts are needed for its conservation and for a better future of future generations. 

 

“With this collection, I hope to inspire the reconnection of humanity through the natural beauty that surrounds us and the Heritage Sites of our World; linking us back to our cultural and ancestral past, our more empathetic and conscious present, and our inspired and hopeful future. With this collection of our most beloved UNESCO World Heritage Sites I hope to spark an electric shock that enters our souls, creating a trigger for us to unlearn everything we thought we knew and re-learn everything through the beauty of our natural world and the purity of the hearts, minds, and souls of our children; with this, I am hopeful for more conscious humanity, where poignant conversations can create the real action needed for the conservation & sustainability of a reunited planet,” said Mr. Jafri.
 
‘The Art Maze World Tour’, in partnership with UNESCO, is now underway in its journey to all four corners of the world as part of UNESCO’s inclusive celebration of ‘The Next 50’. In April this year, as part of the World Tour, Mr. Jafri’s latest artwork in The Art Maze Collection, ‘Sagarmatha National Park’, was unveiled on Mount Everest, Kathmandu, as the first painting ever to be revealed on Mount Everest.

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