Claire and Rupert Callender of the Green Funeral Company pose for a photograph with a environmentally friendly coffin in woodland close to their office at Dartington Hall Estate on February 4, 2011 near Torquay, England. The Devon-based company operates as funeral directors and undertakers throughout the South West, offers an ecological alternative to traditional funerals, with coffins made from ecologically friendly materials such as wicker and bamboo, and can arrange funerals that encompass diverse religious and spiritual beliefs everything from a Catholic Requiem Mass, to a Pagan ritual at a stone circle on Bodmin Moor. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Dutch artist Suzan Drummen‘s large-scale floor installations are mesmerizing and complex circular patterns made out of mirrors and brightly colored glass. The fractal-like arrangements feature ornate and elaborate circles growing exponentially out of each other and vibrant rings of spiraling colors winding into the surface of the floor. They are composed of crystals, chromed metal, precious stones, mirrors and optical glass. A sensory experience, and visually stimulating, the glittering installations play with the architecture of the space — climbing up walls and sweeping across the surfaces — examining the idea of illusion and optical effects.

Doctor Boaz Zissu of the Bar Ilan University shows the inscription on a 2,000-year-old ossuary at the Rockefeller Museum on June 30, 2011 in Jerusalem, Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority have confirmed the credibility of the ancient ossuary, otherwise known as a stone chest in which to store bones, as bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas from the New Testament. Laboratory tests have come back saying that the inscription with the name of “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri” is both “genuine and ancient”. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Ra Paulette is an American cave sculptor based in New Mexico who digs into hillsides to sculpt elaborate artistic spaces inside mountains. Reviewer Martha Mendoza in the Los Angeles Times described the caves he created as shrines, as hallowed places, a “sanctuary for prayer and meditation” while others describe the caves as works of art. The caves are finished with “scallops, molded curves, smooth ledges, inlaid stones, narrow pods and crusty ledges”. His caves attract visitors worldwide.

A view of the construction site of the Chateau de Guedelon near Treigny in the Burgundy region of France, September 13, 2016. Blacksmiths, stonemasons and quarry men are hard at work in a Burgundy forest building a 13th-century-style castle using the most basic tools and materials, replicating the methods used hundreds of years ago to better understand them. (Photo by Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)

Opposition supporters carry stones and chant slogans demanding lower taxes and a reduced cost of living in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 20, 2023. Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga called on his supporters to participate in countrywide protests on March 20, 2023 to demand that President William Ruto lowers the cost of living while questioning last year's presidential elections results. Kenyans face economic hardship following the government's recent tax measures and increased food and fuel prices. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)

“Inspired by the French authorities' solution to move Romas from point A to point B, Romanian authorities planned and started forced evictions of Roma informal settlements in cities like Cluj-Napoca and Baia Mare. Some of these settlements date back to the early 1990’s. These communities were tolerated by the authorities who verbally encouraged Romas to build in the area, meanwhile, reassuring them nothing bad would ever happen to them. However, the the reality today is that during political campaigns, authorities are planning forced evictions without reasons other than ethnic cleansing of the cities. My home documents the every day life of Roma communities in Romania, 2011”. – Mugur Varzariu. (Photo by Mugur Varzariu, 2011 FotoVisura Grant Finalist)

“Sally Mann (born in Lexington, Virginia, 1951) is one of America’s most renowned photographers. She has received numerous awards, including NEA, NEH, and Guggenheim Foundation grants, and her work is held by major institutions internationally. Her many books include Second Sight (1983), At Twelve (1988), Immediate Family (1992), Still Time (1994), What Remains (2003), Deep South (2005), Proud Flesh (2009), and The Flesh and the Spirit (2010). A feature film about her work, What Remains, debuted to critical acclaim in 2006. Mann is represented by Gagosian Gallery, New York. She lives in Virginia”.

Photo: Candy Cigarette, 1989. (Photo by Sally Mann)