Malala portrait up for grabs at Christie's

A sketched portrait of Malala Yousafzai, the girl who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman, is up for auction in New York next month for her charity Malala Fund.

The piece is painted by Jonathan Yeo, one of the leading painters of Britain, and would be auctioned off at Christie's on May 14.

According to Dawn News, Malala said that the funds raised will support the work of the Malala Fund, which includes helping young Syrian refugees in Jordan and girls freed from child labour now attending school in Pakistan. She further added that the person who buys the painting should know that their generosity will directly help children in some of the most challenging environments in the world.

The painting which shows the 16-year-old doing her homework, measures nearly three-feet-by-three-feet, has been on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London since September. The auction house estimates the value between 60,000 pounds and 80,000 pounds.

Yeo, who met Malala during her recuperation from the gun shot injury in April 2013, said that it had been a privilege and hoped that that the painting reflects the slight paradox of someone with enormous power yet vulnerability and youth at the same time.