Celebrity art auction in Dubai raises nearly $10m for Ramadan meals campaign

Nearly $10 million (Dh36.6m) was pledged to the UAE's 100 million meals campaign at an auction in Dubai on Saturday night.

Rare artworks by Nelson Mandela, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró and David Hockney were up for bidding.

Three donated works by record-breaking artist Sacha Jafri were also listed.

Among the works that attracted the highest bids was a rare piece of Kiswa, the cloth used to cover the Kaaba in Makkah, embroidered in gold and silver, donated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

The cloth sold for $2.7 million to an anonymous phone bidder.

A colourful canvas by British artist Sacha Jafri sold for $4.2 million, also to an anonymous bidder by phone.

Last month, a huge canvas the size of a ballroom that was painted by Jafri went for a record-breaking $62 million. The clothes he wore while painting the artwork sold for $450,000.

Several of Jafri's works featured the painted hand prints of celebrities, and tennis player Boris Becker, boxer Amir Khan and Majorie Harvey, the wife of Steve Harvey, the US TV presenter added their marks on the night.

Hollywood star Will Smith, who was expected to attend, sent a recorded message apologising for his absence, which was due to an unexpected illness brought on by extreme dieting for an acting role.

Attending the auction were Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson for Dubai Culture, Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Digital Economy, AI and Remote Working Systems and Florian Picasso, the great grandson of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.

Will Smith to auction hand prints for the UAE's 100 Million Meals campaign

Mona Kattan, the sister of beauty mogul Huda, bought two pieces for more than $100,000 each.

Funds raised will go towards providing food aid for people in need across 30 countries.

Sheikh Mohammed unveiled plans for a Ramadan campaign to supply 100 million meals to people in 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Thanks to the generosity of the public, businesses, government departments and philanthropists, the 100 million target was hit within just 10 days on Thursday.

But the drive continues to ensure people in many countries battered by the pandemic do not go hungry.

100 Million Meals campaign - in pictures

The UAE has funded more than 100 million free meals in 20 countries across the region during Ramadan. Pictured are youngsters in Egypt. All photos by Wam

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, organiser of the campaign, has tied up with international and local partners in each of the beneficiary countries to deliver the food parcels

Cash vouchers are being given to low-income communities in Palestine and in refugee camps in Jordan and Bangladesh

Staples such as rice, oil, beans, beans and flour are included in the food parcels, which is sufficient to prepare between 240 and 300 meals throughout Ramadan

Children smile for the camera after receiving a food packet.

Low-income families, refugees, orphans and widows in Jordan, Egypt and Pakistan have started receiving food boxes.

Workers packing food boxes to be delivered to the needy during Ramadan

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.