As more and more of Earth’s natural beauty gets paved over each year, one woman has made it her mission to capture the wonder of the world beyond the cityscape and inspire people to venture outside the concrete and steel.
Artist Sarah Yates, who works under the name Faunagraphic, is known for her massive murals: 20-foot-high wild birds or brilliantly rendered octopi with tentacles that snake along the bricks for a whole city block and transform what was once cold and lifeless into an enlightening expression of nature’s wonders.
“I love to paint small things on a large scale,” she says. “This wasn’t really a style when I first began as a graffiti artist. Most graffiti artists were painting letters, so at first I felt a bit like a black sheep. But I painted the birds I loved, and the public, in turn, loved my art.”
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Faunagraphic’s work has been transformative for the cities and villages that have invited her to create colorful murals within their borders. Neighbors emerge from their cramped quarters, entranced by the sight of the mesmerizing imagery blooming in their neighborhood, waving at the smiling woman with wild auburn hair on her scaffold with her spray-paint cans. A child asks his mother what kind of bird she’s painting. The mother remembers the bird from when she was young and tells her child the story, saying they’ll have to go looking for the bird one day. The art’s spell has settled into the hearts and minds of the residents, a magic that they’ll take with them throughout the day, making them dream of a world without roads, wild and free and untainted by industry.
Environmentalism through art. Conservation through contemplative thought.
“I developed my style through painting the things I loved,” she says. “I have always loved game design, fantasy art, stories of magic, folklore, ancient history, future tech … I always wanted to have something within my work to keep me inside that imaginative place.”
Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, Yates discovered her passion for creating art with spray paint as a 19-year-old graphic design student. Over the next 15 years, Faunagraphic honed her craft of blending graphic elements with nature-related realism. It became her mission to advocate for the importance of the natural world through the beautification of urban developments.
“I love nature and the things that inspire us inside the woods — the feelings we get when walking through a forest path full of bluebells, bright green grasses, little birds shifting through the trees. I put myself in that place when I draw and try to surround myself with these things.”
Her audience easily interprets the message behind her art and advocacy: Embrace nature more.
“At times my message is more to remind people of how lucky we are and how beautiful and unique our planet is,” she remarks. “To value time, help others, and love each other. Our world has many issues, but nature is always at the core. When we have nothing and someone’s life is not going great, I hope only that they can find joy in nature, at least.”
Painting to Heal
Much as being in nature can provide psychological healing, Faunagraphic hopes her work can achieve a similar effect in the heart of a city.
“I believe it has a big impact on peoples’ wellbeing,” she says. “Seeing any form of creativity triggers ideas in people: clear thinking, positive reactions. They then walk away to lead their own inspirational or motivational behavior within their circles of influence.”
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Faunagraphic reflected on a particularly difficult time in her own life where she drew upon the solace of the natural world for peace and strength.
“I was very sick and in the hospital with blood cancer when I was 18,” she says. “I wasn’t allowed to leave my room for 30 days. I was in confinement, isolation. However, each day at the same time different animals would pass by my window, including fox cubs who would play in the grass outside. I wasn’t sure what the future had planned for me, but I stayed positive and tried to be strong, knowing that soon I could go outside again into the greenery and wind.”
Her mind drifted to things others have told her about how her work has changed and inspired them.
“I hear a lot of stories about people starting to watch birds when a family member dies or something traumatic happens to them,” she says. “These kinds of stories move me. I feel there is a more spiritual connection that people overlook until they are on their own, having a quiet moment in nature and realize they are not alone.”
I ask about her work with children as an activist and preservationist, and whether she’d observed a difference in the responses of children versus adults when it comes to the idea of nature conservation.
“I think children are more engaged,” she says. “They want to get involved, to help more. They want to make their own art. Adults are more reflective and take the inspiration into their lives in their own ways. It’s very positive.”
Art Spreads Its Wings
When it comes to her focus in the world of environmental conservation, Faunagraphic is drawn to several different bird societies across the United Kingdom and Europe, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds — RSPB for short — and Swift Conservation. During 2024 she has focused on heritage and urban regeneration projects, one being a new UNESCO protected site, the details of which are still developing.
In a past interview on the BirdBuddies blog, Faunagraphic remarked, “I always find the story of the RSPB amazing. I have a few friends and they’re like, ‘Oh, protesting for nature, it doesn’t get anywhere.’ And I’m like, that’s wrong, because the RSPB was just two women that started it off, fighting for the rights of these birds, because they kept getting slaughtered for hats, and the birds were going extinct. And that’s how it all began, just two women.”
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Faunagraphic doesn’t limit her artistic endeavors to murals. She has been invited to participate in dozens of European gallery exhibits and installations. Recently she extended her presence in the art world across the Atlantic Ocean to be part of the 2023 Aruba Art Fair in the Caribbean Islands.
Faunagraphic has also collaborated with some of the most influential brands today — including Sony, TOMS Shoes, Converse, Diesel, Pioneer, and Reebok — to design unique nature-themed consumer products.
She might even launch her own product line one day. “It’s something I’m working on,” she says. “I love linen and organic or sustainable fabrics, which I would then screenprint onto. I have been spending years speaking with different suppliers in different countries, as well as machinists and clothing makers.”
Faunagraphic’s stunning and impactful work reaches thousands of people every year, and her murals could continue to inspire viewers for generations to come. She understands the power of her murals on young and old alike and continues to strive to spread her message of nature conservation. With every thoughtful swath of paint, Faunagraphic continues to make the human fabricated landscape — as well as the lives of those who live within it — a little more beautiful by turning concrete jungles into urban oases.
Ultimately Faunagraphic’s hope is to reconnect people to the Earth and reinvigorate their childlike curiosity about the natural world. For it’s only through a deeper connection with nature that we can preserve the beauty of our world.
“Small steps lead to big changes, you know.”
