Believe it or not, Egypt is brimming with undiscovered talent, from DJs to actors to artists. But Graphic Designer Mahmoud Tammam takes the cake with his illustrations of the literal meanings of these Arabic words. 

"I have always been fascinated by word manipulation," says Tammam. "So I started this project as a personal challenge."

And the resulting 40 images are seriously tattoo-worthy! See for yourself: 

"[The project] was meant to be a practice or personal challenge— a way to experiment different approaches," says the Alexandria-based graphic designer. "The project was divided into two parts—  the first took me months to finish, but the 2nd took three weeks or less!" 

According to Tammam, the first installment of the project was published two years ago, and did not generate much hubbub. 
However, the second time around was much different: "I tried sending it to Bored Panda and didn't expect much because it's an international website," says Tammam. "Honestly, I didn't expect that'non-Arabic speakers would be interested." 

The Bored Panda article featuring Tammam's work has gotten 336K views and 107K 'likes' on Facebook since its publication, which just happened to be on his 27th birthday!  
"It's a lot to process," he says. 

Like what you see? You can view more of Mahmoud Tammam's work at Haeptik Studio or on Behance.
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By Salma Thanatos Rizk