Yasmina Alaoui, 1977 | Body Painter

Artist Yasmina Alaoui and photographer Marco Guerra love to tantalize their audience.

In their life-sized photographic series "one thousand and one dreams", statuesque bodies apear frozen in time, covered from head to toe in meticulously detailed, contemporary Arabic Henna patters.

Captivated by the realism and sculptural quality of each human form, the viewer becomes lost in an illusion.

Each artwork begins with a black and white nude photograph by Guerra.

Layers of Alaoui's complex ink drawings are then fused with the portrait, with breathtaking results.

Originally from Chile and Morocco respectively, the couple were inspired by the Thousand and One Nights, a legendary collection of tales from the Middle east, and the magic surrealism of South American literature.