People move on a tractor through a flooded street amid severe flooding in Feni, Bangladesh, on August 25, 2024. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

People are caught in a dust storm in New Delhi, India May 23, 2016. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

People hold umbrellas as they walk past a flooded street in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China, July 19, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

People participate in the annual Afropunk Music festival on August 27, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

People are reflected in a shop window as they walk along a street in a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan June 25, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A large variety of weapons were for sale at the Washington County Fairgrounds Gun Show that drew thousands of people over the weekend, on March 22, 2013. (Photo by Gary Porter)

Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.

People watch as an acrobat rides his motorcycle around a circular track at an entertainment park set up outside a shrine in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on June 19, 2013. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)