Sprays of vibrant blooms and foliage erupt from New York City trash cans, trucks, and road signs by Lewis Miller Design (previously). Known for his temporary Flower Flash installations, Miller sees phone booths and stacks of pallets as vessels for enormous floral arrangements, which often remain in place for only a few hours before they disappear. He delights in setting the scene for unexpected encounters and often collaborates with local businesses, events, and other artists, like in a series of cascading displays around artist Scott Froschauer’s reimagined road signs for L.E.A.F. Flower Show.
Find a variety of vivid arrangements on Miller’s Instagram and website.
All images courtesy of Marei/@mareiii04, shared with permission
Sacred in the Shinto religion and an officially designated national treasure, the deer in Nara, Japan, are widely known for roaming a public park and bowing for treats—although the animals in recent years have been dubbed the “devious deer” because of their increasingly demanding behavior.
Those traveling to the region to fawn over the uncharacteristically mannered creatures can now ride in an equally adorable coach. Operated by Kintetsu Railways, the Deer Train is decked out with lush, spotted seats, grassy flooring, handles shaped like pudgy animals, and illustrations by Tokyo-based artist Gemi that transform the cars into a whimsical, cervine world.
The specially designed transit started operating in late 2022 and runs between Nara, which is about 45 minutes south of Kyoto via rail, and Sannomiya. (via Spoon & Tamago)
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” While this saying has become admittedly trite over the years, it stands true that what we each hold beautiful as individuals can act as a window into our interior worlds. In the photographs of Bryan Birks, cars—that most American of obsessions—are the entry point to the surprising beauty of their owners, portals into people, the communities they belong to, and the aspirations they hold dear.
For Birks, cars are deeply symbolic. “A car can be a lot of things. It can be someone’s main mode of transportation, or it can be someone’s shelter. I see it as a sense of hope,” he notes. “It can take you places. If you have a nicer one, then maybe you have done well financially for yourself. It can be something that you pass down to your kids. Every conversation I have for this project, I feel there is a strong pride in the ownership of the car, and that reflects back in the photographs.”
That notion of pride is deeply felt in Birks’ images. Made up of portraits and environmental details, Articles of Virtu depicts the elemental relationships between people and their cars. The cars themselves were the first draw into a world of collectors, mechanics, and artists in their own right. Driving around his native Midwest, Birks would look for cars to photograph, explaining that, “in the beginning, it would be very old vehicles, but now it has transformed into any vehicle that looks interesting.” The focus has now shifted somewhat, from the object to its owner. “The people play a key role now, whereas, in the past, it was the vehicles themselves.”
As he went on photographing, he realized that he saw plenty of people taking pictures of their cars but no one focusing on their owners. “I didn’t know how to approach people,” he explains, “so I used the car as a way to get in and speak with them. The first person I photographed for the project, before it was a project, was a man named Mark. It was right at the beginning of the pandemic, and I was wanting to keep my distance, but his conversation and demeanor kept pulling me in closer. Eventually, I was inside his house, and he was telling me story after story about all of his vehicles. He named all of them with female names. I ended up asking for his portrait and taking two or three photos. After that, I was keen on keeping up with that and making it into a series.”
It was after photographing Jason and his dog, Diablo, that he first had the feeling the project was truly forming, describing how “it summarized everything that I was trying to say into one single image. The car, the light, man’s best friend, the dirt in Jason’s nails, and even the tattoo on his arm of praying hands. Every time I went out after that, I was trying to recreate that feeling.” Birks’ photographs capture his subjects in cool, blue palettes, touched at times with pinks and golds. As he continued working on the series, he began to see how the car did not need to be front and center—it was the owners themselves who pushed the narrative forward.
Interested in the stories that his subjects tell, he photographs the spaces they inhabit, the details that provide color and insight. The homes and garages of his subjects are filled with memories and mementos—notes, polaroids, books, auto parts. Each image is treated with a genuineness that feels tender. A selective focus softens the photographs and backgrounds fall away gently. A world that can often seem overtly-masculine, and could be rendered as such, is instead visualized with care and emotion.
In Bob’s Car, tiny white baby shoes hang from a car mirror, tinged by what feels like cold early morning light. In Ken’s Garage, we see bits of memorabilia—a framed newspaper article, a calendar featuring a 1959 Corsair Convertible, bits of pegboard, all orbiting a black and white photograph of the rockabilly star Carl Perkins.
The title of the series, Articles of Virtu, is a term most often used in the study of antiques or art historical items. It refers to objects that are considered interesting because of their “rarity, beauty, or appeal to a connoisseur.” For Birks, the association with beauty and connoisseurship was a natural connection. Reflecting on the work, he hopes that the viewer “comes away with a better understanding of people, and more specifically, older men. The best compliments I get are when someone says one of these owners is ‘beautiful’. The men in these photos have been called a lot of things in their lives, but ‘beautiful’ probably isn’t one of them. So, if I can do that for them, then I feel like I have done my job.”
Included with the photographs on his own website are lines from the last stanza of a poem, Washing the Car with my Father, by Afaa Michael Weaver. In it, a blue Chevrolet serves as a common ground, a symbol for the shared love between father and child. As Birks’ photographs show, a car can be so much more than an object: it can be a meeting point, a bond, a whole world of connection.
The properties that make plastics so versatile and useful – their strength, durability, flexibility – also make them difficult or impossible for nature to fully assimilate – or to recycle.
There are two main kinds of black and white film, Orthochromatic and Panchromatic, which differ in their sensitivity to wavelengths. Find out the main differences of these two branches and see what effects they can render in your pictures.
Imbued with a nostalgic charm, the following images transport us to Puglia, a place seemingly untouched by the feverish pace of modern life. Captured by the discerning eye of photographer Cara Poyntz, the photoseries – fittingly titled ‘Puglian Breeze‘ – paints an intimate picture of Palazzo Daniele, Aquamarea Hotel, Monopoli, and Polignano a Mare.
Cara says of her experience, “Inspired by in-person connections, locals, and each of their conversations taking place; the simplicity of enjoying each moment as it comes. Puglia gives a sense of warmth and belonging. The essence of community, family, endless espressos no matter the time of day. It’s a place where everyone feels so present. I hugged more strangers in my time in Puglia than anywhere else, it’s a Southern Italian community spirit that I’ll always remember.”
These visuals, shot on film, reflect the timeless allure of Puglia. The images narrate the story of a place where the lines between stranger and friend blur, where the spirit of community and family is the pulse that drives daily life. The featured hotels, Palazzo Daniele and Aquamarea Hotel, are elegantly woven into the story, serving as charming settings to this evocative journey.
Photography: @throughcaraseyes Hotels featured: @palazzo.daniele and @aquamareapolignano
This week, Schiphol Airport announced that it had extended its booking system for security to all terminals, meaning passengers can now pre-book a time slot regardless of whether...
If anyone ever told Can Sun not to play with his food, it’s a good thing he didn’t listen. The London-based Chinese artist meticulously carves red apples into geometric cross-sections and linking chains, sometimes adding accoutrements like brass hinges. Delicate slices are puzzled together to form circles or the skin carefully removed to reveal interlocking, rope-like shapes, as if the apple is caught in a net.
“I had a really tough childhood. For a long period, humour has been a way to protect my self-esteem,” Sun tells Colossal, sharing that he chose to focus on apples because the unexpected arises from the ordinary. “My work tries to break the audience’s logical expectations, which makes the audience wonder if the world is absurd. The more everyday the object, the greater shock when the audience sees its different forms.”
Sun enjoys playfully reinterpreting all sorts of everyday objects into uncanny artworks, like a wearable temporary sculpture made from dandelions that mimics brass knuckles. His work will be included in group exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai this July and August, and you can follow updates on Instagram. (via BoingBoing)
All images courtesy of Archeological Park of Pompeii
Pompeiians—they’re just like us! Hungry for pizza.
Earlier this year, archaeologists excavating a block of houses in Regio IX of the Vesuvian city uncovered a fresco that shows a round, doughy dish resembling the modern favorite. Researchers were quick to point out that pizza, as we know it today, hadn’t been invented when the 2,000-year-old painting was created, although the ancient civilization did enjoy foccacia, a cousin of the tomato and cheese-covered pie.
This dish appears topped with pomegranate, spices, and a cheesy pesto known as moretum. Served on a silver platter accompanied by dried fruit, yellow strawberries, and a chalice filled with wine, the focaccia likely represents a “gift of hospitality,” according to the Archeological Park of Pompeii. These offerings to guests emerged from the Hellenistic period and the Greek practice of Xenia, which also describes the genre of paintings depicting this tradition.
Approximately 300 frescoes of ancient food have been found around Pompeii, although this still life is particularly well executed. While the work offers insight into what the buried civilization ate, director Gabriel Zuchtriegel says it also has implications for how we understand the evolution of food and wealth, sharing:
I think about the contrast between a modest and simple meal that reminds us of a sphere that stands between the pastoral and the sacred on one side, and the luxury of the silver trays and the refinement of the artistic and literary representations on the opposite side. When considering this matter, how can we not think about pizza, also born as a ‘poor’ dish in southern Italy that has now conquered the world and is served in Michelin star restaurants.
This discovery comes three years after archaeologists in Pompeii uncovered an impeccably preserved snack shop that served up fish, fowl, and of course, plenty of wine.
For more than a decade, Sophie de Oliveira Barata has been at the helm of The Alternative Limb Project, a Lewes-based studio that makes custom prosthetics for people with amputated or missing appendages. The designs range from uncannily realistic to fantastic, fairytale-like creations that fall at the intersection of art and medicine, a unique meeting point she discusses in a new interview with Colossal.
Some people have an idea that it will just be exactly the same all the time, and your body is a living organism, which is impossible to replicate. In some ways, it’s easier to go for an alternative because you haven’t got to match something that’s just changing all the time.
In this conversation, de Oliveira Barata speaks about the young girl who helped inspire the project, how cultural conceptions of physical disability have evolved, and the imaginative, empowering possibilities of alternative limbs.
Seemingly floating atop vast brick exteriors and inside massive specimen boxes, enormous butterflies stretch their wings, casting a soft shadow on building facades. Now based on both sides of the Atlantic—Switzerland and Mexico City—French artist Mantra (previously) continues to lean into the passion, curiosity, and respect he harbors for nature. Pursuing his childhood dreams of becoming a naturalist, the artist’s signature take on exploring the Lepidoptera through freehand acrylic murals is monumental.
Mantra is inspired by insects’ seemingly effortless movements and motions that are, in actuality, incredibly complex. He explains to Colossal that “it is quite challenging to study a butterfly so closely that your presence will not disturb them. Their flight patterns are unpredictable, and they rarely spend much time resting on a leaf or flower. However, this is precisely what captivates me.” The artist has also had recent opportunities to affirm his practice, such as accompanying a volunteer research program and census by the Cerro Prieto community inside the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico.
As he works toward his first museum show in the United States projected to open next year, you can keep up with his work on his Instagram and website.
PichiAvo (previously) continue to scale multistory buildings from Ontario to Tahiti, recently painting a series of vibrant new murals. Known for combining figures from Greek mythology with spraypainted tags synonymous with graffiti, the Valencia-based duo often work in vibrant jewel tones, especially warm pinks and violets shadowed by cool blues. Rendered in a style evocative of ancient marble statues, classically idealized portrayals of deities like Mercury and Venus are intertwined with contemporary street art. For a recent project back in the pair’s hometown, the god of wine, Bacchus, hoists a bunch of grapes on a wall of the aptly named Mythic Hotel.
During extensive travels, PichiAvo have found ways to adapt what they call “urbanmythology,” especially as it relates to specific locations. A diptych on two buildings in Paea, Tahiti, taps into a Tahitian legend about the prince of neighboring Paparā and the prince of Paea’s son fighting for control of the land in a javelin duel, thus determining the borders between the two communities. And taking the theme of the wall indoors, an ongoing body of work they call Diaspasis turns raw plasterboard into a canvas, emphasizing crumbled edges as if it has been chiseled and removed from architecture.
If you’re in Montréal, you can stop by PichiAvo’s new solo exhibition titled Three Graces at S16 Gallery, which runs June 15 through July 9. Find more on the artists’ website, and follow updates on Instagram.
“Mercury and Psyche” (2022) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
“Mercury and Psyche” in progress
“Bacchus” (2022) at the Mythic Hotel in Valencia, Spain
Javelin murals (2023). part of ONO’U, Paea, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Detail of a mural in Tahiti
Photo by Bruno Lopes, courtesy of Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon
Photo by Bruno Lopes, courtesy of Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon
It makes us so happy that you enjoy shooting ILFORD FP4+ as much as we, as you demonstrated for this week's #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites theme being #madewithfp4.
@JeremyCalow. One of my favourite shots with FP4+ “The Crew” #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #madewithfp4
@kostamuksendee. #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #madewithfp4. I feel nostalgic sharing these FP4+ photos of Helsinki summer. This is when we would enjoy bathing in the sun (but in shades of course), before diving into more than half a year of darkness.FP4+ here is mostly pushed about 4 stops.
@peter_durst. For this weeks “Friday favourites” I would like to submit: Duncan’s LTD. Fuji GS645W FP4+ Whitehorse, YT. FP4+ fits my shooting style perfectly. Sunshine or not. It’s my desert island stock. #believeinfilm #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #madewithfp4
@olabillmont. Portrait with a handheld 4x5" Speed Graphic #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #madewithfp4
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Ziyu Wang grew up in Xinyang in a traditional Chinese family, meaning that he was constantly aware of the gendered expectations that his parents have for him. “My father had hoped I would become a government official, because in his eyes, this was a symbol of masculine power,” Wang says. “As a result, I took a photo of myself wearing a suit against a blue background, as in China, all government officials have ID photos with this backdrop.” But what might it mean for Wang, who is queer and now lives and works in London and Shanghai, to upend these expectations, and to challenge himself and others through photography?
In his playful self-portrait series Go Get ’Em Boy (2021–22), Wang performs traditionally masculine archetypes in front of the camera, embodying different characters to point out the often absurd assumptions of traditional gender performance, in China and elsewhere. The reflexive nature of self-portraiture allows Wang to explore these themes and remain authentic to his own life. Informed by gender theorists such as Judith Butler, whose germinal writing in the 1990s framed gender as a form of performance, Wang inflects ideas of “gender parody” into the context of Asian men, subverting stereotypical ideas to capture gay, Asian men in the role of “alpha” males. In Lads (2022), Wang poses in a line with other Asian men, all shirtless, flexing, ordered from largest to smallest physique. It’s a striking image that, on one hand, cleverly confronts stereotypes of Asian masculinity as it relates to the body while, on the other, questioning the viewer’s expectations of what a “man” should look like.
While Wang employs a supporting cast of characters, the focus in Go Get ’Em Boy remains on how he himself can personify these masculine archetypes. “I believe that using myself as the subject allows me to create a deeper connection with the viewer, as they are able to see me, my body, and my emotions in a way that they might not be able to with an image of someone else,” he notes.
Wang’s photographic influences include Hans Eijkelboom’s With My Family (1978), a series wherein the Dutch photographer took self-portraits with real families, interloping as a fake father figure. “What I love about this series is Eijkelboom’s ability to subtly shift identities and insert humor into a familial context,” Wang says. He also cites Yushi Li’s self-portraiture work as a touchstone of photography that deals with tangential ideas of gender and race, using a similar approach.
Wang approaches image-making with levity and wit. “Humor and playfulness are key to making conversations about masculinity and gender identity more inclusive,” he says, which “allows for detachment and questioning, connects with audiences, and creates a more accessible and relatable experience.” However, the pleasure of viewing Wang’s parodies of masculinity (for example, being held in a pose of extraordinary athleticism by two conspirators in morph suits), belies the use of humor as a critical device. “I had been pretending to be heterosexual in my parent’s presence,” Wang says. “It struck me as absurd.”
While Go Get ’Em Boyis foremost a playful refraction of his own lived experiences, Wang is aware of the broader ideas communicated by his work. “Many young Chinese people are often pressured to conform to cultural and societal expectations surrounding gender, sexuality, and identity,” remarks Wang, who has come across similar experiences of familial prejudice in conversations with his queer, Chinese friends in London. This experience of having to live a double life—being able to be openly queer in London, but not China—is something he wants to explore in a future body of work. “Overall, I want to bring attention to the struggles faced by the queer, Chinese community.”
Ziyu Wang is a runner-up for the 2023 Aperture Portfolio Prize, an annual international competition to discover, exhibit, and publish new talents in photography and highlight artists whose work deserves greater recognition.
A new advertisement for the United Nations Global Compact, the largest corporate sustainability program in the world, recalls the nearly 40-year-old speeches of the prescient American scientist and cosmologist Carl Sagan. Famously testifying to Congress in 1985 to alert of the dangers of a warming environment, Sagan was an unflinching advocate for transitioning the world away from fossil fuels and protecting the planet for generations to come.
In “Carl Sagan’s Message,” the Brazilian production company Boiler Filmes and ad agency AlmapBBDO bring the scientist’s words back to life alongside a menagerie of wildlife automata. As a reel-to-reel audio recorder plays his speeches, a kangaroo, elephant, moose, and more—all of which were created by artist Pablo Lavezzari—begin to wiggle. Each is part of a larger installation, a fitting metaphor for the connection of all living beings.
Throughout the nearly two-minute ad, Sagan warns, “We’re doing something immensely stupid…The abundance of greenhouse gases is increasing. One degree of temperature change is enough to produce widespread suffering and famine worldwide.” Unfortunately in 2023, the planet has already surpassed one degree, and we now face the immense task of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius. “40 years ago it was urgent,” the ad reads. “Now it’s an emergency.”
For millennia, Spain has been leading producer of olives thanks to the Mediterranean climate’s long, hot summers and mild winter temperatures. Harvested and cured in brine or ground up to extract the natural oils, the fruits are grown on trees planted in vast groves that stretch for miles over the undulating landscape. The region of Andalusia in particular boasts a time-honored tradition of olive cultivation, producing and exporting more than any other part of the country. For German photographer Tom Hegen, the rows and grid-like patterns of the groves presented an irresistible subject.
Known for his aerial photos of swaths of earth that have been impacted by human presence, such as salt extraction sites, Florida beaches, and solar plants, Hegen captures expansive Spanish landscapes that when viewed from above, morph into abstractions of pattern and texture. He highlights the immense monocultures that spread over nearly six million acres of Spanish countryside, documenting both large-scale agricultural production and smaller farms managed by individual families for whom producing olive oil is a centuries-old vocation.
Explore more of Hegen’s aerial photography on his website and Instagram.
A voluntary top-up pension fund used by hundreds of politicians is set to go bankrupt by 2025 at the latest. The European Parliament must decide what happens next.
If you feel like a fish out of water, the saying goes, then you’re probably feeling a little confused or uncomfortable. St. Paul-based artist Liz Sexton gives the simile new meaning with recent marine-themed additions to her ongoing papier-mâché masks series, highlighting the distinctive faces of familiar creatures like walruses, manatees, and polar bears that find themselves out and about on dry land.
Sexton enjoys papier-mâché for its versatility and accessibility, using additional readily available materials like cloth, wire, and acrylic paint to build up each animal’s unique textures, patterns, and colors. Comprising her upcoming solo exhibition Out of Water at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, the lifelike wearable sculptures draw attention to a variety of beings that rely on aquatic ecosystems for survival. Barnacles and belugas are photographed in atmospheric settings by the artist’s partner and collaborator Ben Toht, who captures each animal’s unique details and expressions.
Many of Sexton’s sculptures portray species that, in their native habitats, are under threat as they increasingly become entangled in nets and suffer the effects of the climate crisis. The delicate and often awkward balance between the human-made environment and natural ecosystems is highlighted in photographs of the masks in atmospheric settings by the artist’s partner and collaborator Ben Toht. The portraits playfully juxtapose the creatures with unusual locations like a grocery store freezer aisle, a campground, or a laundromat.
Out of Water opens May 6 and continues through September 3 in Winona, and you can find more work on the artist’s website and Instagram.