Meet Sameer Shoukat, a rising sand artist from Balochistan

Sameer Shouqat is one of the rising sand artists who is even praised by one of the top YouTubers CarryMinati for his mesmerizing art.

Liked by plenty across the world, Shouqat’s drawn sketch cracked the media, while he himself was lost in the dust. A news agency in India went out to report the work, while he chose silence over-crediting the artist.

In fact, many on social media, too, went on to share the art without a mention of the artist until he got a response from Shahnawaz Dahani very recently when Dahani showed the sketch to Virat Kohli in Australia. Virat thanked the team for showing their love with regard.

Sameer Shoukat,was born 11 December 2003, is a Baloch artist from Gaddani, Balochistan. In a competition in Gwadar in 2020, he ranked second out of 80 in the professional category. This competition boosted the young artist to go on with his passion for the arts.

A year after that, he went out to become a beach sketcher and has made several arts of popular figures. In the given regard, MM News held an interview session with the young, Baloch artist.

MM News: How did you begin your journey to arts and then to sand art?

Sameer: First of all, thank you for giving me your precious time. I am a passionate emerging artist from Balochistan. As my elder brother is the head of an arts academy, Rashidi Arts Club, I joined it in 2019 where we learned sand art. But then there was an arts competition in Gwadar where I participated in the Professional Category.

Among 80, I stood second in the competition. It was a life-changing moment for me that pushed me more in the arts field. And then in the year 2021, I thought of doing something which was rare in arts.

I went on with ‘Beach Sketching’. And then for last one year, I and my team have been working on this. We have sketched several beach sketches including that of former prime minister Imran Khan, Babar Azam, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Lionel Messi, Virat Kohli, Syed Zafar Abbas, and Atif Aslam and we have many more in purse.

MM News: Do you sketch on order or receive any payment for your efforts?

Sameer: Unfortunately, no, and fortunately, I do it because I am so eager and passionate about all these because I live in a coastal town and all the expenses are managed by me and my team.

All the tools and systems belong to us. To our misfortune, there are plenty of other tools that we lack and the government has not given us the prerequisite attention that we wanted, but still, we are trying out our best to continue with the few resources we have.

MM News: Is beach sketching a part of the Rashidi Artists Club?

Sameer: To some extent yes, but I and my team manage it by ourselves. Actually, my brother is the admin there and I have been a member of the club. In fact, Rashidi Artists Club only exists on YouTube while our group subsists in all the other social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Hence, I am doing it myself with my team of beach sketchers. People usually misunderstand and connect it with Rashidi Artists, but it varies.

MM News: Tell us about your team and who decides the selection of your sketches such as whose sketch to be made.

Sameer: In my team, we are seven admins. Although my brother is the admin, but all the things are run and managed by me here because of his other busy schedule and I deal with people with regard to the beach sketching. Coming to a selection of sketches, it is teamwork. We sit together and discuss the names. We are six members including Zabiullah, me, Kabeer Ahmed, Sameer, Waheed Hanif, and Waqar Noor. So you can say, it is all teamwork here.

MM News: How is the public response to your viral beach sketches?

Sameer: The response has been so inspiring from the sketches’ perspective, but I feel I am lost – perhaps unintentionally. Although several media reports were made for my sketches in local, national, and international media, I was neither mentioned, nor my works were credited, nor was I interviewed by any one of the outlets. It hurts in the beginning, but then yes, I know and my team knows how hard we have worked on all these. And yes, efforts always pay back. But overall, it has been a sensational feeling to see your works going viral.

MM News: How did you feel when Shahnawaz Dahani showed your beach sketch to Virat Kohli and tweeted the photo with Virat on Twitter? How has been the response thereof?

Sameer:  It was the best feeling ever when I got a reply tweet from the Pakistani cricketer Shahnawaz Dahani showing our sketch to Virat Kohli and posing that picture for us. The best feeling was that moment when Virat and Dahani took on to social media with my sketch for which I am wholeheartedly grateful to both cricketing heroes. But when it comes to public response or mention, we get disappointed. We have not received the required amount of attention that we feel we should have. I appeal to people to kindly mention us when sharing our sketches on social media.