Saudi woman sets Guinness World Record with world’s largest coffee painting

Ohud Abdullah Almalki is also the first Saudi woman to achieve a GWR on her own

Ohud Abdullah Almalki used used 4.5kg of expired coffee powder to create the world's largest coffee artwork. Courtesy Guinness World Records

Ohud Abdullah Almalki has just become the first Saudi woman to achieve a Guinness World Records title single-handedly, according to the global authority on record-breaking achievements.

The Saudi artist created the world’s largest coffee painting in the Al Naseem neighbourhood in Jeddah using expired granules.

The painting, called Naseej 1, is spread over 220.968 square metres. It is 15.84 meters long, and 13.95 metres wide, and has been made out of seven connected cotton cloths; each measuring 15.84 metres long and 2 metres wide.

Prior to this, the largest coffee painting created was 158.37 square metres and was achieved by Alex Dzaghigian in Greece in January 2020.

Almalki, a student in fifth year of College of Law at King AbdulAziz University, used 4.5kg of coffee powder to create the artwork. She used only expired coffee powder to be mindful of waste.

“It took me 45 days of continuous work to complete, under the watchful eyes of two witnesses, video recording and drone footage,” Almalki said.

“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.”

The painting illustrates seven renowned figures of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The two largest portraits are that of the founding fathers of the two nations, the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, and the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Below are paintings of Saudi and UAE rulers including the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.

The artist said that the piece was created to “remind the world of the centuries-old entente between the two nations.”

Women of Saudi Arabia have taken part in Guinness World Records attempts in the past, but this is the first time a Saudi woman has achieved a GWR world record on her own.

In 2015, the largest human awareness ribbon consisted of 8,264 participants and was achieved by the women of Saudi Arabia at an event organised by 10KSA in Riyadh.

“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,” says Almalki.