Hong Yi, who goes by the nickname ‘Red’, is a Malaysian artist and architect widely recognised for creating artworks from everything but your tradicional pencil or paintbrush. We’ve seen her use local everyday materials such as seeds, melted candles, socks, coffee…and the time came for teabags.

In her last larger-than-life portrait the challenge was to use 20,000 stained tea bags to create a “Teh Tarik” man, which in Malay means “pulled tea”. This sweet milky drink is served in local cafes in Malasia, and the routine is to pour it between two containers to make it frothy. This is exactly what “Teh Tarik” man is doing, in this portrait that took her two months to create.

Red Hong Yi stained each one of the teabags in 10 different shades, using temperature and water and food dye to achieve different tones. The teabags were afterwards stapled to the wire mesh and hung on a wooden frame.

This work was on display in January at the World Economic Forum.

Hong Yi Red Malaysian artist creates artwork from teabags

Hong Yi Red Malaysian artist creates artwork from teabags

Hong Yi Red Malaysian artist creates artwork from teabags

Hong Yi Red Malaysian artist creates artwork from teabags

Hong Yi Red Malaysian artist creates artwork from teabags

Hong Yi Red Malaysian artist creates artwork from teabags 7

Images: Hong Yi Red

What do you think of artworks like these?