A devotee of the Chinese Samkong Shrine walks with flowers pierced through his cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand, October 16, 2015. The festival, featuring face-piercing, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Street vendosr prepare grilled pigs to sell for the Chinese New Year celebrations at a market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 11 February 2021. Chinese people around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which marks the year of the Ox. (Photo by Kith Serey/EPA/EFE)

People in traditional Chinese costumes attend a parade to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Dragon on January 28, 2024 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on February 10 this year. (Photo by Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

A five meters high sculpture “Pentateuque” created by Contemporary French artist Fabien Merelle, is displayed in Central, business district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The artwork brings to real life the fantastical and seemingly impossible act of an average man balancing a gigantic elephant. The elephant and the man are modeled on one at the Singapore Zoo and on the artist himself. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A devotee with his body painted poses as he waits to perform during a ritual as part of the annual Shiva Gajan religious festival at Sona Palasi village, in West Bengal, India, April 11, 2016. Devotees offer sacrifices and perform acts of devotion during the festival in the hopes of winning the favour of Hindu god Shiva and ensuring the fulfillment of their wishes, and also to mark the end of the Bengali calendar year. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Director Taro Kambe directs as he watches acting with VR headset during a rehearsal for ROCKET's 3D virtual reality adult film at the company's studio in Tokyo, Japan, July 31, 2017. Japan is the world's second biggest virtual reality market after the United States and the adult entertainment industry and gaming sector are turning to VR as a new way to distribute content. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

In an extraordinary act of devotion to his art, sculptural artist Spencer Byles spent a year creating beautiful sculptures out of natural and found materials throughout the unmanaged forests of La Colle Sur Loup (where he lived with his family), Villeneuve Loubet and Mougins. He worked together with elements of his natural surroundings to create artwork that blends seamlessly with the environment.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, January 9, 2013, ahead of the Chinese lunar new year of the Snake, following the Chinese zodiac, genetically modified, auspicious, white snakes slither across the altar at the Temple of White Snakes in Taoyuan county, in north western Taiwan. Director of the temple Mr. Lo Chin-shih says the new year of the snake would be a time of steady progress, in contrast to the more turbulent nature of the outgoing year of the dragon. The Chinese new year fall on February 10. (Photo by Wally Santana/AP Photo)