PUBLISHED 7 AUGUST 2025 BY THE URBAN CARTOGRAPHER
Extraordinary was created by the South African artist Sonny Sundancer. I first photographed this in 2019 about a year after it was originally painted.
Sonny Sundancer, also known as Sonny Behan, is a South African urban contemporary artist who is currently based in Los Angeles. Born in the UK, he moved to South Africa with his family when he was eleven years old, and this experience sparked a lifelong fascination with wildlife. Although he had no formal training in art, he began painting in his early twenties and taught himself the necessary techniques.
He is well-known for his large-scale murals, bronze sculptures, and oil paintings, which often blend hyper-realism with abstract splashes of color. His work primarily focuses on wildlife and themes of environmental sustainability and conservation. Through his art, he aims to raise awareness for endangered animals and build a connection between urban environments and the natural world.
Sonny has collaborated with prestigious organisations such as the United Nations, UNICEF, WWF, and Discovery Inc. His projects and murals can be found in numerous locations around the world, including South Africa, Mexico, London, New York, Ireland, and Russia.
In 2017, he launched the “To The Bone” project, a global mural tour that brought awareness to endangered species. The tour culminated in a solo exhibition in New York in 2018, where his paintings depicted animals with their faces breaking away to reveal skeletons underneath, a symbol of their diminishing numbers.