Rangoli, also known as kolam or Muggu, is a folk art from India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. It is usually made during Diwali, Onam, Pongal and other Indian festivals. They are meant to be sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities. The ancient symbols have been passed down through the ages, from each generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive. Similar practices are followed in different Indian states: in Tamil Nadu, there is Kolam in Tamil Nadu; Mandana in Rajasthan; Chaookpurna in Chhattisgarh; Alpana in West Bengal; Aripana in Bihar; Chowk pujan in Uttar Pradesh; Muggu in Andhra Pradesh and others.

Award winning Italian Bodypainter Johannes Stötter, paints his models to blend in to their backgrounds. The artist and musician based in Italy has created some of the most unique and life-like pieces of art we've ever seen. And yes, while some works like the ready-to-eat human melon heads creep us out, it's fair to say Stötter has owned his craft. Photo: “Melon”. (Photo by Johannes Stötter)

Artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s Museo Atlantico, off Lanzarote, is peopled with concrete casts of refugees and people taking selfies. Drowned world: welcome to Europe’s first undersea sculpture museum. Here: The Raft of Lampedusa, Taylor’s modern-day concrete echo of Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. The work has particular significance given the huge movement of refugees across the sea to Europe – and the frequent fatalities that result. (Photo by Jason deCaires Taylor)

The Blue Man Group performs on stage during a media preview ahead of their show in Singapore on March 31, 2016. Blue Man Group was started by three friends in New York in 1991 as a way to celebrate the human spirit through music, science, art and theater. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

Plumes of smoke rise from the snow covered volcano Villarrica, in Pucon, Chile on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra Escobar/Reuters)

Double tornadoes, lightning storms and rotating supercells – this is what it's like to chase storms for a year. These dramatic images show apocalyptic weather throughout 2014 from a lightning storm to a pair of rainbows. Roger Hill, 57, has been chasing storms in the United States for thirty years and runs a tour operation with his wife Caryn. Here: a hailstorm rolls over fields, on July 22, 2014, in South Dakota. (Photo by Roger Hill/Barcroft Media)

“Stacked Supercell with Lightning”. This huge mesocyclone supercell was near the Nebraska / Kansas border on the night of June 22nd, 2012. What a stunning structure! (Photo and caption by Jennifer Brindley/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

A partial solar eclipse is seen as a labourer works at a construction site in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 9, 2016. (Photo by Samrang Pring/Reuters)