Inspired by personal experiences, a mix of cultures, rituals, and travelling the world, artist Jim Skull creates elaborate woven skull sculptures. He likes to be referred to as Jim Skull as a reflection of his interest in skulls; a symbol that he has been working with since the 1980s. He is currently living in France where he creates beautifully crafted sculptures out of rope, Papier-mâché, and other natural materials. He was born in New Caledonia and there’s no doubt that the influences of the tribal arts from Oceania, Africa, and North America are evident within his technique.

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.

Daredevil Christopher Gillette writhes around with a huge alligator he has saved from death. He works at a Florida sanctuary that rescues the wild beasts if they stroll into neighbourhoods where residents can legally kill them. To raise cash for the centre at Homestead, staff put on shows to feed and wrestle the alligators. Photographer John Chapa, 41, and girlfriend Adriana Canargo, 30, took these shots. Photo: Assistant photographer Adriana Canargo dives with a wild alligator. (Photo by John Chapa/Barcroft Media)

A man speaks on his mobile phone on May 31, 2011 in New York City. In a new report by 31 scientists meeting at the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO/IARC) it was found that using a mobile phone may increase your risk for certain kinds of brain cancers. While further scientific work will be conducted, the group of scientists from 14 countries classified cell phones in the carcinogenic category 2B, which is similar to the pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Elsa Rhae Pageler, otherwise known as just Elsa Rhae, has the unbelievable knack for transforming her beautiful face into something incredibly scary. Although she began her career in video editing, and still works as one to this day, she has become infamous for her amazing makeup transformations. She took a stage makeup class as an elective to graduate from her film degree in college and soon realized that it was a passion she didn’t even know she had at first.

Being able to look at this world in a different light is the main thing that distinguishes a true artist from a common person. We can clearly see that Lucas Levitan is a true artist despite the crude drawings that he makes. By hunting through thousands of photos that people post on Instagram, he finds the ones that might have a completely different, surprising, and comical theme. For example, a sensual photo of lady’s eyelashes is transformed into a scene in which a farmer is harvesting his crops. This is imagination at its finest, which is why the art works of Lucas Levitan are so interesting to look at. (Photo by Lucas Levitan)

A Palestinian beekeeper uses smoke to calm bees in the process of collecting honey at a farm in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip April 11, 2016. Rateb Samour sees 250 patients a day, whose complaints range from hair loss to cerebral palsy and cancer. He is not a doctor and has never worked in a hospital. Samour inherited the skill of bee-sting therapy from his father. From 2003 the agricultural engineer dedicated all his time to study and develop the alternative-medicine treatment of apitherapy, which uses bee-related products from honey, propolis – or bee glue used to build hives – to venom. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)