21 surreal photos from Burning Man 2017

While it had its humble origins on a San Francisco beach, with two friends burning an 8-foot statue, Burning Man has become something spectacular in the years since it began in 1986. Now the statue is 105 feet tall, and is burnt in front of a crowd of around 70,000 people. The annual gathering takes place at Black Rock City, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, around the summer solstice. This year's festival started on August 27th and continues until September 4th, and during that time the community explores all kinds of artistic self-expression, with everything from building projects and performances to interactive sculptures. One thing's for sure - there's nothing else on the Earth quite like it. But as the festival nears its close a plethora of images from the festival have made it from the depths of the desert to Instagram, and boy are they crazy and inventive.

1. 'The Phoenix Rising'

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2. 'Tara Mechani'

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3. 20-foot ballerina

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4. Playing with light

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5. Tree of life

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6. A gigantic gramophone

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7. Family

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8. Hop on board!

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9. The bus of the future

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10. Head and heart

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11. Three faces, one body

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12. What a vehicle!

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13. Desperate to be free

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14. Book learning

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15. Flamingo in a sandstorm

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16. Desert dragon

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17. Huge spaceman

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18. The head of Medusa

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19. Land boat

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20. March of the bunnies

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21. The eye

[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYciu2GnUE0/]] After the weeks of planning, designing and complex construction, all these strange and beautiful sculptures are taken down at the end of the festival, leaving the desert spotless as if nothing had ever happened. What a fascinating event. Going here has definitely earned itself a place on my bucket list.