Katie Mizuno, who uses the human body as the canvas for large-scale ornamental tattoos, this tension belies a fundamental truth: that humans and nature are not separate, but one.

Working from patterns she collects herself, Mizuno creates tattoos that flow seamlessly around the curves of her clients’ bodies. Mizuno calls her pieces ‘biophilic,’ and it’s easy to understand why. Her designs incorporate patterns based on leafs, shells, water, blood splatters, roots, soil, and more to create textured, layered tattoos that look more like fossils than drawings.