taxidermy art by polly morgan

polly morgan's work is the super-coolest. she works with taxidermy, but not in the traditional way where the taxidermist tries to re-create nature/reality. polly morgan creates a fantasy, brought to life with the bodies of real animals. and i find it completely beautiful, serene and melancholic.

"Morgan won't call herself a taxidermist. 'I'm nowhere near as competent as the taxidermists I've learnt from,' she says insistently. Plus her ambitions are quite different. 'What [taxidermists] are trying to do is to recreate a wildlife image in 3D, a classic pose, something you'd see in the countryside. I am more interested in the moment between something dying and decaying - anything between a few hours and a week. There's something beautiful about that. The wings aren't used for flying, the eyes aren't used for seeing, the beak isn't used for pecking… it just becomes an ornament. When it's taken out of context, people can see that it's beautiful. They can appreciate it for what it is.'" link

i love animals. and death fascinates me. as i've said before, i'm not fascinated by violent death, by gore, i'm fascinated by peaceful death - the mysery that is important to understanding life. i've always wanted a taxidermy animal (i've got one now, from etsy of all things, but more on that later), i can see how it might be deemed a tasteless wish by some. i'm not a hunter, i don't want to show off my "prey" as a proof of my hunting skills- but doing so is maybe more acceptable than wanting a taxidermy animal because of a fascination of death.

i think taxidermy can be dignified as much as it can be tasteless, and in polly morgans case i find that it's totally dignified. she doesn't kill any animals for her work, it is all road kill and such. she doesn't portray them in a humiliating way. her work is all about the beauty - and melancholy - of mortality.