Artist Statement for
Photo documentary Project
The world of Taxidermy is one of
juxtaposition. Taking death and making it look alive and life-like as possible,
which is ironic since the thing that brought them to this point was the pursuit
of death itself.
Honestly, I picked taxidermy to photograph
because it is the only interesting and convenient subject that I could think of
to photograph. My significant other, Jared, works with his brother-in-law,
Danny, in the game processing shop owned by Danny’s family. The work for family
business doesn't last year round, only from about Aug to, at the latest Feb,
depending on how many animals come in from the hunts.
I had been exposed to taxidermy a
little bit because of going with Jared to his family gatherings, which are
typically at his brother in law’s house. So when this project came up I decided that I
would learn more about taxidermy.
I wonder what the fascination is with
killing something and then wanting to keep it looking like it is alive and displaying
it so that everyone can see it? It must be a guy thing!
I found out that keeping trophies
from kills is not a new concept. Cavemen had trophies; they just didn’t have
walls to hang them on or the knowledge to preserve them so they did the next
best thing. They drew them on the walls of their caves! Cave drawings of
animals are even found in several areas here in Utah.
Ancient cultures even had trophy
mounts, hunting lodges in Scotland and Ireland have Eruropean mounts (must be
where they got the name) by the hundreds in the rafters.
Taxidermy is gruesome, stinky and
messy! The whole process ends in this beautiful lifelike “stuffed” animal. I
had always heard of taxidermy referred to as an animal being “stuffed”.
Ironically, there is no stuffing inside of them!
Shortened version of the process…
1 Hunter kills animal
2 Animal is skinned and desired to
be a trophy
European
Mount
A
The head is removed, lower jaw is discarded
B
The eyes, and brain are taken out
C
The skull is put in a tub of water that is heated unti free of debree
D
It is soaked in degreaser to remove oil from skull
E
A peroxide bath is next
G
Some people like a painted scene on them
Antler
Plaque
H
Some people only want the antlers
I
The antlers are cut from the skull in the beginning and cleaned
J
The antlers are screwed onto a mold
K
Plaster fills in around the antlers and makes a smooth surface.
L
Cloth and piping are used to cover the plaster
M
The mold is mounted on a plaque and is ready to hang
3 The skin is tanned (a whole other
process) now called a hide
4 The hide is sewn onto and glued
on to the form that is approx the same size as the one killed
5 The hide is also sculpted into
the form to show the contour of the muscles and bones to make it look more
real.
6 Glass eyes and painted touch ups
complete the transformation from dead animal to preserved animal that will last
a lifetime.
Here is a link to the photo documentary on taxidermy I did for photo1...
http://lichelle-jenkins-photography.weebly.com/
