JAKARTA - World Cup fever has not subsided since Argentina with Lionel Messi surprising France and Kylian Mbappe to lift the gold trophy in Doha.
Morocco's outstanding performance at the tournament also inspired a wave of support around the world, as they beat three favorites of the Spanish, Portuguese and Belgian tournaments to become the first African and Arab countries to successfully enter the World Cup semifinals.
Millions of people use the contest for a month, which ended on December 18, to praise their football heroes, and Palestinian artist Sarah Odeh chose one of the most unusual ways to do it: to recreate Messi and Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou (Bono) as food.
Graduates of fine arts, who live in Dubai, used traditional Middle Eastern food to describe the two players, "drawing" Argentine players over the kunafa, and Morocco's goalkeepers using Palestinian and zakatar olive oil.
"I describe my art in three words: imaginative, preventive, and creative," Odeh told The National News about his artwork which later went viral, as quoted December 28.
"As an artist, I am completely inspired by anything, it could be the environment around me, nature, songs, films, inner feelings, imagination and news," said Odeh, who started combining food and art as he looked for new and unusual drawing methods.
"I found that creating art with unusual ingredients is more challenging for me, who fed my creativity and helped me expand my imagination," he explained.
In addition to athletes, Odeh has re-created another personality using food, including Lebanese actress Maguy Bou Ghosn and Egyptian star Ahmed Helmy.
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"Every artwork I make conveys a certain message, sometimes it can send my love through my art or spread awareness about different topics," he said. "I chose a different ingredient to help me convey the right message," he continued.
Odeh used Palestinian olive oil to make Bounou and "convey messages from me and all Palestinians for the love and solidarity we've seen" from the Morocco team.
It is known that several members of the Atlas Lions waved the Palestinian flag as they beat Canada, also after their incredible victory over Spain.
"Yassine Bounou was amazing, so I decided to use the well-known ingredients of Palestine zakatar and olive oil specifically for its images," he said.
Messi's fame goes beyond South America, he has a lot of fans around the world and particularly the Middle East, as the region's festive celebratory scene shows when Argentina finally won the trophy.
"For Messi, I made works of art using kunafa dedicated to all Messi supporters to celebrate his victory at the World Cup," concluded Odeh.
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