Small Worlds (17 Photos)

By Vidar
Two separate photographs: Golsa Golchini’s girl touching an elephant formed from damaged plaster, and a tiny red car painted on a rock ledge by JPS.

A home inside a missing brick. A neighborhood painted along a curb.

A hole becomes a cave, an earbud becomes a speaker, and a twig becomes a mouse’s perch. These 17 works range from miniature street scenes and tiny installations to animals assembled from natural materials.


David Zinn’s tiny character Nadine rests at a window drawn inside a missing brick, beside a purple flower in a pot.

🪟 Nadine and the One Good Window — By David Zinn

Nadine rests beside a potted purple flower in a gap in the brickwork. Zinn uses the recess as a room, with its lower edge becoming a windowsill. The surrounding bricks show just how little space this home occupies.

More: More Chalk Art by David Zinn

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A row of tiny houses with tiled roofs, doors and windows painted by Apolo Torres along a sidewalk curb in São Paulo, Brazil.

🏘️ Tiny Homes — By Apolo Torres in São Paulo, Brazil 🇧🇷

Tiled roofs, doors and small windows run along the face of a curb. Apolo Torres paints the houses to fit its shallow height, making the pavement above them look like a vast rooftop.

💡 Nerd Fact: This work belongs to Sem Rampa, Calçada é Muro—“Without a ramp, a sidewalk is a wall.” The project used curb paintings to draw attention to barriers faced by wheelchair users.

More: More Art from the Sidewalk Project

🔗 Follow Apolo Torres on Instagram


Two miniature figures stand at the entrance to a dark hole in a pale wall, making the opening look like an enormous cave.

🔦 Tiny Explorers — By Slinkachu

Two miniature figures approach a dark opening in a wall. At their scale, the rough rim becomes a cave entrance and the narrow ledge becomes the ground beneath their feet.

💡 Nerd Fact: Slinkachu remodels and paints model railway figures, then places, photographs and leaves them in the street. He began working with miniatures in 2006.

More: More Miniature Scenes by Slinkachu

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Concrete barriers at London’s Smithfield Market painted by EVOL with rows of windows and balconies to resemble miniature apartment buildings.

🏢 Smithfield Meat Market — By EVOL in London, UK 🇬🇧

Windows and balconies cover a group of concrete barriers, turning them into a compact housing estate. EVOL’s London intervention was installed at Smithfield Market, where Street Art London photographed it in November 2011. Stencils and paste-ups bring the details of apartment buildings down to street-furniture scale.

More: More Views of EVOL’s Miniature City

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A small woman leans from a dark window above peeling white paint that resembles rows of washing, in a work by Golsa Golchini.

🧺 Laundry Day — By Golsa Golchini

A woman leans from a window, reaching toward the peeling surface below. White flakes become rows of washing, with the uneven edges suggesting shirts and sheets hanging across the wall.

More: More Small Street Scenes by Golsa Golchini

🔗 Follow Golsa Golchini on Instagram


A tiny red car painted by JPS appears to descend a narrow ledge among large jagged rocks.

🚗 Cliffhanger — By JPS

A red car noses down a narrow strip of rock. JPS follows the stone’s sloping edge, turning a small painted vehicle and a few sharp fractures into a precarious mountain road.

🔗 Follow JPS on Instagram


A small girl in a striped dress reaches toward an elephant whose body follows the exposed gray plaster of a damaged wall.

🐘 Elephant Friend — By Golsa Golchini

A girl reaches toward an elephant formed by the exposed gray surface beneath the plaster. Its head, trunk and legs follow the broken edges, while the stone ledge gives both figures a place to stand.

🔗 Follow Golsa Golchini on Instagram


A small black, white and red sailing ship painted by JPS at the foot of a wall, with its reflection in real water.

⛵ Tiny Tall Ship — By JPS

A tall ship sits at the foot of a wall, its red hull meeting the real water below. The reflection completes the scene, giving this tiny painted vessel an expanse of water to sail across.

More: More Street Art by JPS

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A small green chalk dragon studies a lava lamp drawn around two real water utility covers in the pavement, by David Zinn.

🌋 The Dragon and the Lava Lamp — By David Zinn

Ignatius has found a lamp almost as tall as he is. Zinn builds its shape around two water covers, then draws a green dragon beside it, turning a patch of pavement into a tiny living room.

💡 Nerd Fact: The lava lamp grew out of a two-liquid egg timer that Edward Craven Walker saw in a Dorset pub. He experimented with cocktail and orange-squash bottles before launching the Astro lamp in 1963.

More: More Chalk Art by David Zinn

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Perler bead Link stands outside a tiny Zelda dungeon beneath a wooden wall, with a treasure chest and two statues, by Pappas Pärlor.

🗝️ A Secret Zelda Dungeon — By Pappas Pärlor

Link has found a dungeon beneath a wooden wall. A tiny doorway, two statues and a treasure chest turn this patch of foundation into the start of an adventure, with real grass growing around the entrance.

More: More Retro Game Street Art by Pappas Pärlor

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A miniature guitarist stands beside a white earbud used as an enormous speaker on a pavement, with a full-size bicycle in the background, by Slinkachu.

🎸 Street Music — By Slinkachu

One discarded earbud is enough for this guitarist’s entire sound system. The little figure plays beside its mesh speaker, while a bicycle wheel in the background gives away the scale of the pavement concert.

🔗 Follow Slinkachu on Instagram


Clarence, a tiny yellow chalk duck, floats in a dark pond drawn on a stone among grass and clover, by David Zinn.

🦆 Clarence’s Little Pond — By David Zinn

Clarence has a pond all to himself. Zinn draws the water onto a small stone, leaving the surrounding grass and clover to form its banks. A few ripples make the yellow duck look perfectly at home.

🔗 Follow David Zinn on Instagram


A tiny harvest mouse assembled from natural materials perches on a twig among real blackberries, green leaves and white flowers, by Hannah Bullen-Ryner.

🐭 Tiny Harvest Mouse — By Hannah Bullen-Ryner

A tiny mouse perches on a twig between blackberries and white flowers. Bullen-Ryner assembles the animal from found natural materials, letting the surrounding stems and leaves become its thicket.

More: More Art Made from Nature by Hannah Bullen-Ryner

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Mario-inspired bead characters, bricks, clouds and a green pipe turn a rusty blue metal door into a tiny video game level, by Pappas Pärlor.

🎮 A Mario Level on a Door — By Pappas Pärlor

A rusty blue door becomes a Mario level, complete with floating bricks, a mushroom and a green pipe. The bead characters spread across the metal panels, making the gap between them feel like the next obstacle.

🔗 Follow Pappas Pärlor on Instagram


Norma, a tiny chalk hamster, peeks out of a drawn tin can whose raised lid is a real gas utility cover, by David Zinn.

🥫 Reduce, Reuse, Retreat — By David Zinn

Norma has found a snug retreat inside a tin can. Its open lid is a real gas utility cover; Zinn draws the striped sides and the little face beneath it. Even a small pavement fitting can become a home.

🔗 Follow David Zinn on Instagram


A miniature man in a hat sits alone at a tiny wooden picnic table surrounded by grass and twigs, by Slinkachu.

🌱 A Quiet Table — By Slinkachu

A man sits alone at a picnic table tucked among grass and twigs. At his scale, the blades behind him rise like tall reeds, and an ordinary patch of ground becomes a quiet clearing.

More: More Little People by Slinkachu

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A small rabbit made from feathers, moss, seeds and leaves sits beside a real daisy on the ground, by Hannah Bullen-Ryner.

🐇 Rabbit and Daisy — By Hannah Bullen-Ryner

One daisy is almost shoulder-high beside this rabbit. Soft feathers and small pieces of plants form its face, chest and ears, while moss gathers around its feet. The surrounding materials become both the animal and its little garden.

🔗 Follow Hannah Bullen-Ryner on Instagram


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