Artist Ohud Abdullah Almalki has been named the first Saudi woman to achieve a Guinness World Record. Known as ‘the artist of the nation’, Ohud has created the largest coffee painting in the world, illustrating seven renowned figures of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Among them are the founding fathers of KSA and the UAE, the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, and Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, respectively. “It took me 45 days of continuous work to complete under the watchful eyes of two witnesses, video recording and drone footage,” Ohud said in a release. “My aim is to remind the world of the centuries-old entente between the two nations.”

“I wish this will contribute to empowering the women in Saudi Arabia and beyond.”

Ohud has also painted visuals of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The Jeddah-based creative used 4.5kg of expired coffee powder for the painting titled Naseej 1, which is spread across 220.968 square meters, and is 15.84 meters long and 13.95 meters wide. It’s made out of seven connected cotton cloths, each measuring 15.84 meters in length and 2 meters in width.

The resulting painting is a visual marvel, featuring swirling brushstrokes of coffee powder mixed with water in varied brown hues and a traditional Sadu border. “Normally, only one kind of coffee is used in such paintings, but I have used four different shades of brown coffee. I used several rollers and paint brushes of different sizes to finish this project,” Ohud explained.

“This tremendous feat would have been impossible without the support of the people around me. I wish this will contribute to empowering the women in Saudi Arabia and beyond,” she added. Congratulations, Ohud!