Born in 1958 in Kiev, Ukraine, artist Mark Khaisman studied Art and Architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute in Russia. Now living in Philadelphia, USA, Khaisman uses rolls of brown packaging tape to create incredible works of art. Mark characterizes his work as ‘pictorial illusions formed by light and shadow’. The three key elements are: translucent packing tape, clear acrylic or film panels, and light. By superimposing layers of packaging tape Mark can ‘play on degrees of opacity that produces transparencies highlighted by the color, shading, and embossment’.

A greenhouse is a contained quantity of air and light which extends the growing season and enables the thriving of plants otherwise alien to local climate. It creates a bubble of super-nature, where things otherwise impossible become possible. The smell, temperature, humidity and taste of things are significantly different than just outside the thin membrane. It enables us to create different kinds (or quantities) of food, but also to experience different climates and atmospheres. A greenhouse is by definition alien to its site, but creates a significant place in everyday life.

The official name for this tiny speck of land – the size of 12 football pitches – is Hashima, but few call it that. In English, its most commonly used name means “Battleship Island” and, viewed from a certain angle offshore, its silhouette is uncannily dreadnought in nature. It was a mining facility until 1974, when it was abandoned to the elements, before partially reopening as a tourist attraction in 2009. Photo: A decades-old television. (Photo by Mark C. O'Flaherty)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all weapons were created by Sonia Rentsch rather than by gunsmiths? In the series Harm Less, Sonia had constructed a number of firearms using various plants. Of course people might say that it’s not the guns that kill people; it’s the people that kill people. However, this statement is completely false. Can you imagine some equivalent of school shooting if the guns were not available? Yes, some crazy kid would still be able to bring a weapon to class, but most likely it would be a club or a penknife, making him easily tamable. (Photo by Sonia Rentsch)

A mine detection rat is given banana as a reward after successfully identifying an inactive mine on July 2, 2015 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) working with the Belgian NGO APOPO has recently begun testing the feasability of using large mine detection rats from Tanzania to help clear fields of mines and unexploded ordnance in one of the most bombed and mined countries in the world. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

Italian artist Marcello Barenghi draws incredibly realistic everyday objects that appear almost three dimensional with the help of colored pencils and occasional enhancements using markers or watercolor. Each work appears ever so slightly stylized which I think sets these apart from similar hyperrealistic drawings that are meant to ‘trick’ a viewer. If you want to see more, Barenghi runs a YouTube channel where he documents the process of almost every drawing.

Saying 50-year-old armwrestler Jeff Dabe has big hands would be a huge understatement! Dabe’s bear paws are so big that he has been compared to cartoon characters like Popeye and Wreck-It Ralph. His forearms are 49 cm in circumference and his palms look like they could crush a man’s skull like a watermelon. Luckily, Jeff only uses his enormous guns for arm wrestling and operating heavy equipment.

There’s an innate relationship between children and the animal kingdom. Our children sing songs about animals, the have toy animals, they have books about animals and they dream about animals. Capturing this unique connection is Indonesian artist Elicia Edijanto, who depicts small, vulnerable children alongside creatures of the wild like elephants, wolves and bears. Created in stark black and white imagery, and using only watercolors, Edijanto creates dreamlike-scenes that are both tranquil and contemplative.