Born in Amsterdam and now based in Fremantle, Western Australia, Amok Island paints the precarity—and splendor—of life on Earth at architectural scale. His vibrant, geometric murals focus squarely on biodiversity, a subject he renders through mammals, crustaceans, flowers, and other regionally specific species that locals can recognize close to home.
Sites and subjects
Across his home state, Amok Islands works bring flora and fauna into daily view. In Ravensthorpe, The Honey Eaters (2021) celebrates avian life, while Grevillea bipinnatifida (2021) in Dwellingup spotlights a native bloom. Northams The Last Swans (2020) and Collies Cherax destructor (202) extend the survey to waterways and wetlands, and recent pieces like V. kershawi on E. websteriana (2024) in Perth City and Seagulls and Chip (2024) in Fremantle continue the artists precise, hard-edged vocabulary on urban walls.
His compositions span a range of public settings: flocks of migrating birds sweep across industrial infrastructure, flowers unfurl across community buildings, and roosters, butterflies, and cats animate city facades. The roster also reaches abroad via Leopard Cat (2026) in Hong Kong, underscoring the projects international scope while remaining rooted in local ecosystems wherever he works.
Conservation, front and center
Amok Islands paintings are grounded in a wider conversation about species discovered and lost. This year, an international team of scientists announced a new species of wild cat in Bolivia, and initiatives like Ocean Census continue to document hundreds of new marine species annually. At the same time, the article notes that possibly thousands disappear every year, with habitat loss, pollution, and climate change accelerating the trend. By presenting creatures and specimens native to specific places, the murals keep conservation visible in everyday life.
That focus is explicit in The banning of Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (2026) in South Perth, Western Australia, created for NMBW Festival. Like the rest of his oeuvre, its a reminder that policy, science, and public space intersect where wildlife survives or falters.
Amok Islands work showcases the beauty of living things that locals can learn about and enjoy nearby, while shining a light on biodiversitys fragility. More can be found on the artists Instagram.
