Australian Artist Pays Tribute To Wildlife Lost In Wildfires Through His Magical Art Series Using Leaves And Flower Petals

by Stephanie

27 Sep 2021

Josh Dykgraaf has reimagined an amazing and magically beautiful series of photographs. The distinguishing factor of this series is the use of flower petals and leaves, incorporated digitally into photographs to make the birds and animals appear as if they were made from them.

He has named this series "Terraform." He has used petals to emphasize the scales of animals and 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 noticed 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 on his creative process during the lockdown, he says:

“Basically, I was finding whatever I could within 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 his time during the pandemic lockdown and produced these beautiful photographs.

He shares, “The first challenge, of course, is the amount of time that this style takes, but 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 capture 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 progressed, I've moved on to working on other issues that I care about. The devastation we experienced here in Australia with the bushfires last year killed around three billion animals and is 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