Imaginary Biology: Fauna

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While visiting the studio of a taxidermist, I found reconstructed African lions, magnificent birds frozen in their flight, a gazelle’s head without body, a buffalo’s skin on the floor waiting to be adjusted on resin forms. A large number of animal parts were scattered on the shelves, forgotten. Some were grouped by function, some were hanging full of dust. I felt as if they needed attention as if they were calling me. I started collecting those who were talking to me directly - deer hooves and antler, pig’s tail, shark’s jaws. From each of them came a smell of wild wood or sea breeze. The hairs were still full of sweat, the hooves muddy, the scars on the leather visible. Their presence filled my studio. Detached from reality, did they still have dreams ? I spent hours looking at them, smelling them, imagining them and, finally, I decided to give them a new birth. This is how I created new affinities: red peppers and deer’s antler, pineapple leaves and shark’s jaw, fake eyelashes on sand dollar, google eyes on quills, garbanzo beans and fish cartilage. I gave them space, I photographed them, immortalized them. With the help of an old photographer’s recipe and Japanese paper I created a new surface to print on. I wanted it to be like skin, with wrinkles, roughness and the transparency of the epidermis. I wanted these images to breath life.

Edition of 6, 2006
20 inkjet prints on albumen hand-coated gampi paper
Appr. 13 inches x13 inches or 13 inches x 17 inches (33 cm x 33 cm or 33 cm x 43 cm)








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