Before he was a controversial film-maker, Larry Clark was a controversial photographer, recording his teenage life of drugs and addiction in Tulsa (1971) and Teenage Lust (1983). Photo: Untitled, 1963. (Photo by Larry Clark/Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York)

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 sun rises over the north sea as The Couple by artist Sean Henery sits just of the coast at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, England, Wednesday October 8, 2014. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/AP Photo/PA Wire)

View of Evolutions installation by artist Yann Nguema at the Saint-Jean Cathedral during the rehearsal for the Festival of Lights (Fetes des Lumieres) in Central Lyon, France, late December 7, 2016. (Photo by Emmanuel Foudrot/Reuters)

A child stands inside a large soap bubble made by a street artist at the Mayor square in central Madrid, Friday, December 9, 2016. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

Artists perform near a Soviet-era monument during celebration of Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week, which is a pagan holiday marking the end of winter, in Yevpatoriya, Crimea on March 14, 2021. (Photo by Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)

Artist Ali Khalifa, center, draws graffiti at his old Kadhimiya district of Baghdad that needed municipal services, Iraq, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

American rapper Megan Thee Stallion accepts the best female hip hop artist award at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 27, 2021, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/AP Photo)