Sculpting the Dead: Taxidermy in Different Contexts

This research relies on the main question of whether the audience's responses to taxidermy vary when appearing in different contexts in which it is displayed. It explores people's opinions adjacent to the exhibition of taxidermy mounts in various spaces, asking the participants to categorise images based on their connotations with each context. As the interviewees place their scores and their spaces on the works, their scores were reassessed in a second round, to establish whether the perceived exhibition space changes their opinion on the mount. The results presented characteristics that trended in each space, equating specific queues to each place. Story and narrative were found to have value in the artistic space, along with a manipulation of the animal form, suggesting a need for deeper meaning within artistic objects. The natural history museum exhibited educational tendencies of taxidermy, representing an informative character of the space. The private home was showcased through hunting connotations and decorative capabilities of the medium, showing personal dispositions of individuals towards taxidermy. The general trends in scoring were observed to raise in the art museum, remain consistent in the natural history and dip in the private home. These results mean that the art museum space makes the mounts more valuable in the participants' eyes, noticing their capabilities of telling a story and conveying a message. Natural history is framed as museal and representative, acting as a historical depiction of animals' life, consequently remaining as interesting as they were initially. The private home is exhibited by the connotations with hunting and trophies, which resulted in many participants seeing the negative aspects of the work. These were accompanied by the immediate associations that some individuals have with the medium of taxidermy, the perspectives of ordinary materials within the artistic context and the many ethical considerations included in the acquisition of animal materials. The context was found to be significant, through different appearing characteristics represented by faltering scores.