Egyptian artist Aya Hany makes innovative work from tea, bread, toast, and even Nutella

For 20-year-old Aya Hany from Mansourah, Egypt, art has been her greatest passion since her childhood.
Her popularity today is due to her unique and impeccable art work, along with her attitude toward empowering people with the talent and skills she has, her dedication quite visible in her art.
“I want my art to live among people even after I die and the only way is by teaching it to them,” says Aya, who is a self-taught artist.
So what inspired her? “I used to avidly watch Disney Channel’s Art Attack program, this program inspired me a lot, also I often saw my mother draw, so both contributed to the passion,” quips Aya.
If you think 20 years is too young to begin, she has been running her own art studio called “Camera and Pallete” since the past two years, well before she finished her secondary school. Aya teaches art to around 100+ students. The pretty and bubbly youngster also likes writing, poetry, acting on stage and doing live art shows, which seem quite popular among the locals. “I do live art shows where I draw and paint the guest or a popular singer in just 15 minutes in front of the audience using either paint or edible food items.”
Aya says she wished to make her art pieces more professional and 3D, which is why she joined the Faculty of Fine Art at Mansoura University.
Aya specializes in paintings made using food ingredients such as tea, bread, toast, chocolate, Nutella, cheese, vegetables, rice, coffee, honey and ketchup. She also does clay modeling.
“I was bored one day using only paints as a medium and wandered into the kitchen and found honey and ketchup, suddenly my creativity sprang into action and now it’s fun to paint using edible things and then eat them as well,” says Aya cheerfully.
Ask her further about her paintings and if she would be interested in holding exhibitions to raise funds, the young artist retorts with a big NO! “My art pieces are not for sale, they are like my kids and I am very fond of them.”
Her popularity throughout has solely been due to her talent which has got her featured on many local and international television shows and social media platforms. Aya has also been featured in an interview with Ezz El Shabab program on Rotana Masreia channel.
So what actually is her aim now after starting so early in life? “I wish to host my own Arabic version of Art Attack show someday,” the young artist says. As for gentle beginnings she has done short clips for her social media audience, followers and other television channels. On Facebook alone, Aya has around 111,748 fans. Her favorite and finest piece of art she created is a portrait of her grandmother, who for her is the ‘most beautiful person on earth’. When asked if she faced any sort of criticism or difficulty to come this far in a male dominated society like that of Egypt, Aya said: “It was easy because my family and friends have been really supportive of my passion. My society has been encouraging and proud of me.”