Carved into the sand, UAE marine life highlighted at ADIHEX 2023

Shadi showing off his UAE marine life sculpture

ABU DHABI: When he was only 10 years old, Shadi Al Matroushy loved playing on the stretched beach at his hometown Khorfakan in eastern United Arab Emirates (UAE).

But unlike other children, his interest was not in kicking a football or smashing a volleyball. It was rather sand sculpting. His first works were turtles that he built with fine sand.

Shadi gradually developed his capabilities and the rough molds turned into a work of art with fine details. He was especially proud when he placed a sand shark on the beach.

From a single piece, he moved on to depict scenes and themes that earned him applause and cheers and motivated him to use his artistic talent to dream bigger and to turn sand sculpting into a performing art.

“As my interest grew, I learned the techniques of the art from books and through YouTube videos,” he says.

Shadi, a civil official, became the first (and only) Emirati sand sculpturer and he was regularly commissioned to make sculptures on special occasions, celebrations and awareness campaigns across.

He has sand sculpted in front of malls, conference halls, at exhibitions and for events like Traffic Week, UAE National Day, Mother’s Day, Earth Hour …

“My favorite works are sculptures related to heritage or history. I find a special spirit in them, and I noticed that the public is attracted to them as well,” he says.

“I feel very happy when people show keen interest in my sculptures and interact with me about them. Many people also like to participate with me while I sculpt, and I am happy they could join as one of my dreams is that this art spreads further in the Emirates.”

Shadi applying touches to his UAE marine life sculpture

At the 2030 Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian (ADIHEX), organized by the Emirates Falconry Club, Shadi took up a corner where his lifelike sand sculpture depicted several marine species found in the UAE waters. They included an octopus, a turtle, a seahorse, a starfish and a small whale.

At the right bottom, he made a reference to 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP28.

The 28^th United Nations Climate Change conference will be held from November 30 until December 12, 2023, at the Expo City, Dubai.

“The work took me 22 hours, equally divided over two days.”

On other occasions, the artwork takes much longer when halfway through, a sculpture breaks and he has to start all over again.

“The soul of the work is not to give up. We keep building and rebuilding,” he says as he uses a straw to fix the grains of sand rolling down the giant octopus in his artful depiction.

Shadi is already drawing plans for the next sand work that will narrtae UAE features and achievements.