This story appears in the August 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Tropical plants aren’t abundant in the northern latitudes of Montreal, Canada. Nor are the planet’s most diverse animals, insects. Even so, Montreal-based artist and photographer Raku Inoue finds a way to showcase both with his colorful portraits of insects and other animals made from flowers, leaves, twigs, seeds, and stems.

“Insects have always been symbolic for me,” says Inoue, who grew up in Japan. Each summer his grandmother would leave the door open to cool their house in the countryside near Hiroshima and welcome in dragonflies, an insect that she believed represented the presence of her late husband.

View Images The goliath beetle, which can grow to a length of more than four inches, is one of Earth’s biggest insects. Inoue usually makes his sculptures without adhesives, but for complex projects, he’ll use glue and tape.