Tang Yawen's nail and string design of Marilyn Monroe is propped up next to a copy of the photo. [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Tang Yawen, a student at Wuhan University of Science and Technology majoring in visual communication design, used about 9,000 nails and string to recreate a portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

Tang said that he spent a month working on the portrait, and all together, the nails weighed more than 5 kilograms.

His piece of art has been awarded as the excellent graduation design by his university.