OmanPride: Message in a bottle

More sports Monday 06/November/2017 18:26 PM
By: Times News Service
OmanPride: Message in a bottle

Mohammed Al Jaafari recently used 12,000 glass bottles collected from Al Ashkharah beach to create a beautiful piece of art. This is his way of expressing his gratitude to the Sultanate and to celebrate the forthcoming National Day. Mohammed is a 44-year-old artist and an athlete too, who collects glass bottles every day from the beaches to create paintings instead of throwing them in waste baskets.
“Since 2016, I have been collecting glass bottles from the beaches to keep the beach clean as the glass bottles can harm beach visitors and also affect the marine life. Later I thought instead of throwing them why not make beautiful art work from these bottles,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed uses the bottles to make art work according to the event or occasion. Earlier he had done one on the flags of the Gulf States, and later one for the National Day.

**media[767575]**
“The area was 50 metres and I used 12,000 bottles to write slogans that reflect the love for my country and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. These slogans include, ‘November 18, the Sultan of Peace, 47 years of Giving, God and the Homeland and the Sultan, and more,” Mohammed added.
The story behind
“I live in a remote area and the sea was the reason to go beyond these limits,” Mohammed said. Being an athlete Mohammed has been training on Al Ashkharah beach since 1990s to develop his athletic skills. I qualified to play with the national team for athletics. So, I achieved my dream to travel and learn the cultures of the world.”
Mohammed always encourages young people to carry out clean beach campaigns and collaborates with them to organise sports tournaments at the beach, all to raise awareness about maintaining the cleanliness of the beaches in Oman. In future, Mohammed aims to set a record for making the largest glass bottle art work.