See Egyptian artist Hany Genedy craft pictures from salt

Egyptian artist Hany Genedy is surrounded by assorted colours of salt in his home studio in a village in the Nile Delta province of Sharqia, Egypt.

The 24-year-old says he developed a secret technique to fix his images. "At first it took me four or five hours to make a picture with salt then I had to erase it, but later I had the idea of looking for a way to preserve these works," he said.

Genedy focuses as he carefully pours white salt onto a black surface to create an image of actor Al Pacino.

He makes a small income from selling paintings, but hopes his salt art will win recognition in Cairo and internationally.

Genedy creates a picture of Al Pacino made with salt in a gallery room at his home.

He developed a secret technique to fix his images. "At first it took me four or five hours to make a picture with salt then I had to erase it, but later I had the idea of looking for a way to preserve these works," he said.

A man drives a motorcycle in front of murals depicting Liverpool football club's player Mohamed Salah and Egyptian heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub by Gendy in Hihya city, amid concerns over the coronavirus disease in Sharqia.

"At first it took me four or five hours to make a picture with salt then I had to erase it, but later I had the idea of looking for a way to preserve these works," he said. "After several attempts I was able to find a way to fix the pictures," Genedy said, adding some of his salt works have been hanging on the wall for more than three years.