Ryan Shajarian on Instagram

“Some do art for their own sake. I do art for the sake of humanity. For the sake of the people in whose midst I live. When I see humanity face pains and sufferings, I face them too. I too have borne these sufferings,” he said in an interview in 2012.He also pledged funding to the establishment of Bam Art Garden with the aim of promoting artistic and cultural activities in the quake-hit city. However, in 2009, citing the complexities of bureaucratic procedures imposed by the city officials, he pulled out of the project.