Instagram: @ShiharHamza
Doha: Since the start of the fight against COVID-19 in Qatar, resident Shihar Hamza had been seeing the effort that frontline workers - his friends – put in daily. He was touched by their willingness to put their personal matters or their worry for family aside while working continuously to serve the society.
To express his gratitude for these heroes for their selfless action led to SuperHeroes Series 1 where he sketches portraits of doctors and other frontline heroes. With over 110 sketches and counting, these pencil portraits are titled COVID-19 Warrior Super Hero.
Shihar dedicated his 100th superhero artwork to the women officials of Qatar who led the fight against the pandemic in the country - Minister of Public Health, H E Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari; Assistant Foreign Minister and Spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management H E Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater; Medical Director of the CDC, Dr. Muna Al Maslamani; Executive Director, Corporate Infection Prevention at Hamad Medical
Corporation (HMC), Dr. Jameela Al Ajmi; and Medical Director of Rumailah Hospital and Chairperson of Geriatrics and Long Term Care at Hamad Medical Corporation, Dr. Hanadi Al Hamad.
“When I started making my 100th painting, the excitement was too high and I wanted it to be special. So while all the previous portraits were black and white pencil sketches, I decided to make these using water colours,” says Shihar who hopes that one day he is able to gift these portraits to the officials.
A technical assistant with Qatargas, Shihar has been in Qatar for the last 12 years and is quite popular among art aficionados in Qatar with his artworks often exhibited at Katara – the cultural hub of the country.
His first Superhero portrait was of a friend, a doctor at Hamad Medical Corporation, Dr. Naseem Ambra. The sketch was received well by all his friends and Dr. Naseem called to say that this was one of the best gestures of appreciation.
“I did that painting in April and seeing his happiness, I decided to take it up as a project and started drawing more portraits of others who were waging a war against COVID-19,” says the self-taught artist from the southern state of Kerala in India.
While most of his superhero artworks (about 70 percent) include those working in Qatar across all nationalities, there are quite a few portraits of doctors, nurses, and staff from other countries as well like from Cuba and South Africa.
“Of all the portraits that I have done, only Dr. Naseem is a friend, while all the others were referred by friends or acquaintances,” says the artist who usually hands over these paintings to the professionals.
This is not the first that Shihar has taken up a project to give back to society. Prior to this in 2018, when Kerala, his homeland, experienced unprecedented monsoon, leading to floods, Shihar painted 50 paintings of the devastation in the state and sold them online, with the proceeds forwarded to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Father to three kids – Sheza, Zarine and Naznin, Shihar often finds time to paint during the early hours of the morning and says that he receives tremendous support from his wife - Farzana.
All the portraits are posted on his Instagram page.
