Striking Animal Portraits Playfully Interact with the Paris Landscape

Known simply as Sophie, the French photographer combines her skill in the subject with street art by placing realistic and large-scale animal portraits around Paris. Creatures like elephants, alligators, and flamingos are seen on the walls of buildings and perfectly integrated within their urban environment. Sometimes, Sophie will arrange them so that they playfully interact with the architecture, such as the owl who appears to be resting on a cable, or the giraffe that looks like its head is sticking out of a doorway.

Sophie's handiwork is intended to fuse art and everyday life. She surprises the passerby with these unexpected portraits, and their amusing placement brightens a boring commute. The animals could also serve as a reminder for people to pay more attention to their surroundings so that they won't miss something as special as Sophie's installations.

Sophie website
via [Skumar's]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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