Islamabad, Feb. 26, 2026 — In a sprawling workshop on the outskirts of Islamabad, the air hums with the clang of metal and the hiss of welding torches. Here, amid heaps of discarded car parts and rusted machinery, 35-year-old sculptor Ehtisham Jadoon is breathing new life into the forgotten debris of Pakistan’s streets.
Over months of painstaking labor, Jadoon has assembled a 14-foot “Transformers” character, a ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex, and a lion with a mane of twisted steel. Nearly every piece — from motorbike springs to hubcaps, chains to suspension parts — has been salvaged from junkyards, each fragment meticulously shaped and welded into a larger-than-life form.
“When I see scrap metal, I see possibilities,” Jadoon said, sparks dancing across his visor as he worked on the Optimus Prime sculpture. “I imagine what it could become. The challenge is to make it move, breathe, exist — even though it’s still metal.”
A former martial artist and steel fabrication worker, Jadoon has no formal training in art. His sculptures emerge from intuition and imagination, each weld a puzzle piece in a colossal three-dimensional vision. The Optimus Prime sculpture alone took months to construct: its shoulders curve from car rims, the spine is molded from a fuel tank, and the knees are pieced together with chains and suspension parts. Even the eyes, crafted from vehicle bearings, seem to glimmer with a mechanical life of their own.
“I don’t just build a sculpture. I set its anatomy, its posture, its energy,” he said. “It’s a reflection of aggression, movement, strength — everything I learned as a fighter.”
Jadoon’s creative process is as physically demanding as it is artistic. Sparks have burned his hands and arms, and frequent visits to the doctor are part of his weekly routine. Yet he insists the labor is worth it. “This is the only work where I can channel the energy of martial arts into something beautiful,” he said.
Every week, Jadoon scours Islamabad’s scrapyards, sifting through tons of discarded metal in search of pieces that fit his vision. “What is waste to us becomes treasure in his hands,” said Bostan Khan, a local scrapyard owner. “It’s incredible to witness — a motorcycle spring becomes a spine, a hubcap becomes armor.”
Jadoon’s towering creations have begun to draw attention from art enthusiasts, collectors, and the public alike. His work bridges industrial rawness with imaginative storytelling, turning Pakistan’s overlooked scraps into symbols of resilience, creativity, and transformation.
“The metal is the canvas, the world is my playground,” he said, surveying his growing collection of steel beasts. “I’m just giving discarded things a new life.”
In a country where contemporary sculpture is still emerging, Jadoon’s works stand as a testament to the power of human imagination — and a reminder that art can transform not just materials, but perceptions, one scrap at a time.
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