In this Wednesday, August 21, 1991 file photo, appreciative muscovites hand bread, sausages and flowers to a Soviet tank's driver who helped stop the failed hardline coup in Moscow, Russia. When a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 30 years ago and flooded Moscow with tanks, the world held its breath, fearing a rollback on liberal reforms and a return to the Cold War confrontation. But the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days, precipitating the breakup of the Soviet Union that plotters said they were trying to prevent. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo/File)

A model presents a creation by LARHHA during the Code'41 Andalusian Fashion Week at the Amphitheatre of Italica in Seville on March 21, 2021. (Photo by Cristina Quicler/AFP Photo)

Egyptians members of the “Tanoura Dance Troupe” perform during the holy month of Ramadan, at the Ghouri complex, in Islamic Cairo, Egypt, 13 April 2022. (Photo by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA/EFE)

A woman carries her baby as she places fishes for sale at a market in Abobo neighborhood, in the suburbs of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Sunday, November 1, 2020. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)

New York Police officers arrest a drag queen during a weekly “We Choose Freedom” march through the West Village, Thursday, November 5, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Seth Wenig/AP Photo)

A young protester takes part in a protest near Tahrir Square to call for the fall of Islamist President on January 24, 2012 in Cairo. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo via The Atlantic)

Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.

The 37-year-old French artist Anne-Catherine Becker Echivard’s latest artworks were inspired by the silent movies of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton; she uses real-life smelly fish heads as her models for some photos that depict everyday life to address topics.