“I have been drawing faces for as long as I can remember. My practice wasn’t always applauded. In fact, I was made to believe that I should keep my drawings to myself, and I did, for a period of 6-7 years. By the time I was finishing high school, I finally got the courage to show them to my peers. Their reactions were somewhat unexpected. After all those years, it seemed that people liked what I did.”

“A human face is, in my experience, the single most challenging subject for drawing. There are so many things that can go wrong. My objective, as an artist, has always been to capture the aura of a person as opposed to creating just a photographic image. As a kid I used to watch my father making sketches of people and what amazed me was the fact that you could actually sense the presence of the people he was drawing. I think this is what sets a work of art apart from a photograph, the ability to capture and preserve more than what meets the eye.”

In his brief career as a portrait artist Yafiz has made around 500 portraits using a variety of medias, among which his favorites are graphite, charcoal and ink.

“What fascinates me about making a portrait is this connection you feel with your subject. “, says Yafiz. “To draw a hyper realistic portrait, one has to observe the subject closely first. You’ll be surprised how much you get to know about a person throughout the process.”

Yafiz cherishes his encounters with people from different backgrounds. According to him, every person he has met has taught him something precious.

“My creative journey has taught me one very important lesson_ there is no such thing as a boring person. Even the most ordinary looking person can surprise you with their story.”

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