Australian Artist Creates Beautiful Art Series Using Leaves And Flower Petals To Pay Tribute To Animals Fallen In Wildfires

osh Dykgraaf has re-imagined an amazing and magically beautiful series of photographs. The distinguishing factor for this series of photographs is the use of flower petals and leaves, incorporated into photographs digitally to make the birds and animals look as they were made from them.

He has named this series “Terraform”. He has used petals to emphasize the scales of animals and has used leaves as feathers for the birds.

Dykgraaf sheds light on how he came up with the idea saying, “I was surfing through some images I’d shot on a totally different project and had the observation that some rock formations in the Swiss Alps looked like the skin of an elephant. That became the first piece in the project, Ourea.”

He further explains, “I then started applying that idea to other forms—noticing that some leaves resemble the feathers of a bird for example, or that magnolia flower petals look like scales.” Elaborating his creative process during the lockdown, he says:

“Basically, I was finding whatever I could in the short radius we were allowed near my home, as we couldn’t travel.”

Although the pictures are photoshopped, they require immense patience and time as well. Dykgraaf made the best use of the time during the pandemic in lockdown and produced these beautiful photographs.

He shares, “The first challenge of course is the amount of time that this style takes, but of course I’m becoming much more efficient at it the more I do. The primary challenge is in shooting all the material I need though.”

Adding further, he says, “I need to be thorough in the angles I get of various landscapes, perhaps waiting for the right time of day—which isn’t always possible to find something that fits all of an animal’s anatomy. Sometimes I need to get creative with solutions.”

Using his kitchen as a home studio, he took different shots of flower petals and leaves. Explaining the concept of his series Terraform Dykgraaf says:

“As the project has gone on I’ve moved on to working on other issues that I care about. The devastation we experienced here in Australia with the bush fires last year killed some three billion animals and are projected to push koalas to extinction in the wild in the coming decades, which motivated me to travel to the fire fields and create a series of works based on the material I shot there.”

He explains, “I have a couple of series in the works along these lines that I plan to release later this year.” To check out more beautiful work from the artist, visit him here: Instagram Website Behance

Lizard details

Lizard complete

Lizard fan neck details

Lizard fan neck details

Lizard feet details

Protea plant used as inspiration for lizard

Pangolin

Pangolin close up

Josh Dykgraaf Pangolin details

Josh Dykgraaf Magnolia tree used as an inspiration for pangolin

Josh Dykgraaf Tawny frogmouth

Josh DykgraafBush leaves used as an inspiration for tawny frogmouth

Josh DykgraafFlamingo with autumn leaves

Josh DykgraafKookaburra bird

Josh DykgraafOwl with autumn leaves