Vardzia is a cave monastery site in southern Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the left bank of the Mtkvari River, thirty kilometres from Aspindza. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some five hundred metres and in up to nineteen tiers. The Church of the Dormition, dating to the 1180s during the golden age of Tamar and Rustaveli, has an important series of wall paintings. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. Now part of a state heritage reserve, the extended area of Vardzia-Khertvisi has been submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List

In one of the best collaborations this blog has seen in ages, professional illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks has been collaborating with her 4-year-old daughter on a series of wonderful drawings that pass back and forther between mother and daugher until reaching an always unexpected final form. Each drawing begins with Hendricks drawing a detailed retro-ish head, after which her daughter snatches away the sketchbook to create rudimentary body (or animal!) parts as well as other random details. Afterward Hendricks goes back in to polish things up a bit and behold: dinosaur women, slug ladies, and beaver astronauts are born.

San Zhi, Taiwan is an abandoned vacation resort on the northern coast of Taiwan. It was built in the early 1980s, but construction of the futuristic resort ceased after a series of fatal accidents.
Even though it never opened as a vacation resort, San Zhi can still be toured. The strange pod-like buildings act as a tourist attraction. The colors of the pod-like buildings depend on their location. The buildings in the west are green, in the east pink, in the south blue, and in the north white

Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

Clay Lipsky has created a great series called Atomic Overlook. The project takes terribly boring scenic shots and combines them with some exciting nuclear testing. “Tourists will line up for anything and I always found humor in vacation destinations that are nothing but a bunch of people looking into a great abyss”, he says. “I understand the allure of a beautiful landscape, but as the world’s population grows so do the lines to view the “nothingness”. Atomic Overlook flips the script on that and gives new purpose to those suntanned masses”. (Photo by Clay Lipsky)

“Panopticons is an arts and regeneration project of the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network managed by Mid Pennine Arts. It involved the construction of series of 21st-century landmarks, or Panopticons (structures providing a comprehensive view), across East Lancashire, England, as symbols of the renaissance of the area”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Singing Ringing Tree. The Singing Ringing Tree is a musical sculpture overlooking Burnley. It was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu and constructed from pipes of galvanised steel”. (Photos by WandereringSoul/Mark Tighe)

These “snapcats” have found their bunny doppelgängers in a series of sweet photo shoots. Animal photographer Mark Taylor, from Surrey, England, and his assistants have scoured the U.K. to bring together carbon-copy rabbits and cats. Here: Chocolate Birman-cross kitten with chocolate Lop rabbit. (Photo by Mark Taylor/Warren Photographic/Caters News Agency)

To mark the occasion of International Women' s Day on March 8, 2018 AFP presents a series of photos depicting women performing roles or working in professions more traditionally held by men. Here: Professional wrestler Cristal (Crystal) poses for a photograph in her trainig place on February 09, 2018 in Mexico city, Mexico. (Photo by Omar Torres/AFP Photo)