Arno Elias - inspiration of the month.

Inspiration of the month, this is where we talk about artists, designers and creatives who we find inspirational.

How to start? Well Arno Elias is an all-rounder, Activist, Artist, Photographer and Musician!

Arno is most well known for his beautiful hand embellished and painted photographs of endangered species.

In 2016 Arno founded the “I’m not a trophy”. This foundation is used to help shine awareness of the speed of extinction of species around the world. You should check out www.imnotathrophy.org website as it shows you just how Arno Elias is using his art and success to help all these endangered species. This is something I really admire as I think people with influence of any kind should use it for as much good as possible.

What I find inspirational about Arno’s work is the colours and prints he uses and how it creates a juxtaposition. Arno uses colourful highlights of print on his incredibly detailed black and white photography, creating something quite beautiful. He manages to use the colour to draw your attention to different areas on the photograph, with the picking out of different areas helping it to give a flow of direction for your eyes to follow. This keeps you as the viewer engaged and pushes you to search through the image to find more and other interesting areas. What I really like about his animal work is how he manages to in essence capture the culture of the country where the species are from. Whether this is intentional or not I don’t know but the prints used on the elephant below for example reminds me of the Maasai Tribes accessories and fabrics. This an extremely clever idea and something that has really inspired me. By doing this he has given the photograph a hidden depth, adding to the story.

We all know I love a good story with all my product having multiply area and meanings, I feel that Arno Elias uses simplicity of photographing an animal or portrait and pushes the limits to something great!