Kosovo artist creates Biden portrait using grains

While the world's attention is on the upcoming inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden, a Kosovar artist has made a portrait of the US President-elect using grain and seeds.The artist, Alkent Pozhegu, says his artwork is to thank Biden for his role in helping Kosovo and his continued support.Biden, who is well known in Kosovo, had strongly criticized the policies of the late Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Pozhegu worked for days at the cultural centre of Gjakova, a city 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of the capital, Pristina, to prepare his 3 x 2.5-metre (8 x 10-foot) portrait of Biden.The 45-year-old used 120 kilograms (265 pounds) of grains, corn, beans, sunflower seeds and rice. "I hope, with time, that I will make something much bigger because he (Biden) really deserves it. He has been a major contributor in aiding the state-building of the Republic of Kosovo," the artist said.

In 2016, Kosovo named a street after Biden's son, Beau, who worked in Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war.Beau Biden died of cancer a year earlier.Kosovo Albanians consider the United States their saviour for leading the NATO air campaign in 1999 to force Serb forces out.

Kosovo was run by the United Nations until 2008 when it declared independence, which has been recognized by the Untied States and other Western countries but not by Serbia and its allies, Russia and China.In 2012, when Pozhegu was a manager for hotels, restaurants and entertainment businesses, he enrolled in a training course for "fruit sculptor" in neighbouring Albania.Since then, he has had his name registered three times in the Guinness World Records for various grain images.

(Image Credit: AP)