The artist dips a leaf or flower in stencil ink, places it on the client’s skin, and then creates the tattoo with the lingering impression of the greenery as her guide.

Each resulting piece appears almost like a precious fossil or a carefully pressed plant, honoring the frailties and flaws inherent in the original specimen.

Patchy patterns and pigmentation pay homage to the pure shapes of weathered foliage, unpruned by the perfectionistic tendencies of the typical human artist's hand.

Zolotukhina explains, “We don’t know the definitive look when we start, just the colors, the mood and basic shape.” Her work, then, appeals to fellow plucky nature lovers who seek tattoos that are somehow both biologically accurate and whimsical at once—those who are, perhaps, a bit wild themselves.

-My Modern Met