Poopy bird. (M.O. Thirunarayanan)

People who walk oftentimes do come across areas that look dirty because of spills, leaks, smudges and splatter. Sometimes it could also be bird droppings that make some areas look messy. When they messy areas in front of them while walking, most people either carefully and slowly go around, or just step on and walk over such areas.

Not me. I look for patterns that look like art in such areas and take photographs of such patterns using the camera in my smartphone. For obvious reasons, I call my growing collection of such photos “Art That People Step On.”

I initially started looking for things that looked like the symbol “Om,” in my surrounding environments, both natural and manmade, but was not very successful early on in my efforts. However, as I continued to look for the symbol “Om,” my eyes started noticing other patterns that looked like works of art and I started photographing them, giving birth to “Art That People Step On.”

Photos from my collection have been displayed in a few solo, and many juried group exhibitions. My work has also been jury selected for participation at the Beverly Hills artSHOW in May 2019, October 2019, and October 2020. The judges awarded me an Honorable Mention ribbon at the October 2019 show, and a ribbon for Third Place at the October 2020 show. Winning the “People’s Choice Award” in the category of “Photography” at the October 2020 Beverly Hills artSHOW has motivated me to continue to share my work with a wide range of audiences.

Using selected photos from my collection, I have also published a book called “Art That People Step On: Observe, Imagine, and Create.” The book contains activities that children and adults can do, using photos in my collection. The goal of such activities is to help children develop STEM skills such as observing, comparing, visualizing, focusing attention, and asking questions. The activities are also designed to promote creativity and imagination.

What you see above is a photo from my collection. I call it the “Poopy Bird” because the image of the bird that you see in the photo was formed when duck droppings mixed with rainwater, and then dried by sunlight.

What do you see in the photo? What name would you give to the photo?

What do you see? (M.O. Thirunarayanan)

Here is another picture that was formed with something spilled on an asphalt walkway.

Dr. Thiru will not say what he calls it, but would like you to give the image a caption, based on what you see in the photo.

Interested readers can send their responses directly to Dr. Thiru.