Massive art installations depicting birds and other wildlife help bring a touch of nature, and creative inspiration, to cities around Europe
Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:
As more and more of Earth’s natural beauty gets paved over each year, one woman has made it her mission to capture the wonder of the world beyond the cityscape and inspire people to venture outside the concrete and steel.
Artist Sarah Yates, who works under the name Faunagraphic, is known for her massive murals: 20-foot-high wild birds or brilliantly rendered octopi with tentacles that snake along the bricks for a whole city block and transform what was once cold and lifeless into an enlightening expression of nature’s wonders.
“I love to paint small things on a large scale,” she says. “This wasn’t really a style when I first began as a graffiti artist. Most graffiti artists were painting letters, so at first I felt a bit like a black sheep. But I painted the birds I loved, and the public, in turn, loved my art.”
Faunagraphic’s work has been transformative for the cities and villages that have invited her to create colorful murals within their borders. Neighbors emerge from their cramped quarters, entranced by the sight of the mesmerizing imagery blooming in their neighborhood, waving at the smiling woman with wild auburn hair on her scaffold with her spray-paint cans. A child asks his mother what kind of bird she’s painting. The mother remembers the bird from when she was young and tells her child the story, saying they’ll have to go looking for the bird one day. The art’s spell has settled into the hearts and minds of the residents, a magic that they’ll take with them throughout the day, making them dream of a world without roads, wild and free and untainted by industry.
Environmentalism through art. Conservation through contemplative thought.
“I developed my style through painting the things I loved,” she says. “I have always loved game design, fantasy art, stories of magic, folklore, ancient history, future tech … I always wanted to have something within my work to keep me inside that imaginative place.”
Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, Yates discovered her passion for creating art with spray paint as a 19-year-old graphic design student. Over the next 15 years, Faunagraphic honed her craft of blending graphic elements with nature-related realism. It became her mission to advocate for the importance of the natural world through the beautification of urban developments.
“I love nature and the things that inspire us inside the woods — the feelings we get when walking through a forest path full of bluebells, bright green grasses, little birds shifting through the trees. I put myself in that place when I draw and try to surround myself with these things.”
Her audience easily interprets the message behind her art and advocacy: Embrace nature more.
“At times my message is more to remind people of how lucky we are and how beautiful and unique our planet is,” she remarks. “To value time, help others, and love each other. Our world has many issues, but nature is always at the core. When we have nothing and someone’s life is not going great, I hope only that they can find joy in nature, at least.”
