No, that is not just a painting that you see. It is definitely an incredible work of art, but it is not like any art you would come across in the street or in a museum. This is a painting made only with leftover coffee. The artist is Ghidaq al-Nizar, originally from Indonesia. Although coffee painting is becoming common, he made it even better by painting many of his works on leaves and using coffee grounds in his works. Calling it #zerowastecoffee, al-Nizar makes sure he uses all of the coffee that is left in the morning, thus reducing his waste. With its transformation to art, these coffee leaves and coffee paintings help al-Nizar significantly reduce his carbon footprint and maybe inspire some others to reuse their waste. It is true that not all of us have the ability to turn our waste into works of art, but this could lead us to look for new ways to create our own #zerowaste activity.
These sustainable paintings, as we can now call them, are delicate in process and in subject matter. One for example, shows a couple of fairies fascinated by a paintbrush. Every painting suggests the delicate world we live in, even if the subject matter is fantastic. The human forms are small and almost breakable, but they are beautiful. Although the coffee makes each work almost monochromatic, al-Nazir works with the different hues of brown, as well as the coffee grounds, to make his works interesting to the eye. In the end, these leave us with a very good aftertaste, just like a great cup of coffee.
