A contestant photographs a selfie photo backstage during the “Miss Ukraine Plus Size” beauty pageant in Kiev, Ukraine on October 29, 2018. 22 female contestants competed in the contest, the first held in Ukraine, which aims to challenge modern inclusive standards of beauty. The winner of the contest will represent Ukraine to the “Miss World Plus Size 2018” beauty pageant, wich will take place in the Philippines on November 07-11. (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire)

Italian pencil artist Marco Mazzoni‘s work goes far beyond technical perfection. His representation of historical healing women is enigmatic and sublime. Often leaving the eyes blank or covered with an abundance of birds, butterflies and flowers, he gives the impression of a deeper inward focused sight, as well as obscuring the identity of the individual. Many female healers in the past – both medicine woman and midwives – were brutally persecuted by religion, some even burnt as witches… Mazzoni’s work captures their deep connection with nature and their innate power and femininity with delicacy and beautiful detail.

Allyson Anne Lamb is a Brooklyn based fine artist primarily working in photography. Her work uses the body to explore the complexity of human emotions and the continuous invisible transformations we experience, revealing them as monstrosities or fantastical beings. Through the assembling of body parts, bright colors and fictional spaces that exist in Lamb's magical realm where sexual anxiety, female identity and altered sensorial perceptions are explored, Lamb invites us to participate in an altered state of consciousness. We step in to quaint fragmented realities where we are welcomed to engage in lucid dreaming populated by colorful mutations.

A woman in a maid costume serves customers the Maid Coffee Shop in the Akihabara District October 23, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan. The Akihabara District is known as the world's biggest electrical appliance and equipment town, but recently this area has also became famous for having many shops delivering products and healing services by employees in the costume of maids and animation characters. Some popular shops include coffee, hair salon and massage shops where females deliver services dressed as maids. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

Dajana Djuric, 25, who has worked as a chimney sweep since the age of six, cleans a chimney in Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dajana Djuric, believed to be the only female chimney sweep in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has to contend with perilous roofs in the depth of winter. (Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

A man carries a figurine of Santa Muerte or The Saint of Death during the first prayer of the New Year in Mexico City, Mexico January 1, 2017. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte is a female deity of Mexican folk religion, venerated primarily in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

“The Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856) was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A vivandiere, a female soldier selling provisions and spirits, with the Allied forces during the Crimean War. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A family of baby brown bears appear to be dancing to Ring a Ring o' Roses as their mother relaxes behind a tree nearby. At just a few months old, two young males and one female gather in a circle, clutch each others' hands and begin to dance to the popular nursery rhyme. It's almost like a scene from a school playground as the bears joyfully play together, tapping their feet and moving around in a circle. (Photo by Valtteri Mulkahainen/Solent News & Photo Agency)