Taxidermies
Taxidermy is an art of the in-between. It is called upon to meet diverse expectations, such as showing and identifying species for museum or cabinet collections, testimony to hunters’ skill through their trophies, ever disappointed memory of dead pets ; it has to reconcile truth of the species, individual accuracy, and the fleeting grace of encounter. Whether it serves the reconstitution of bygone species or the construction of imaginary specimens, whether it is used for conservation, advertisement, or some kitsch market, it negotiates between the visible and the invisible ; it catches the ephemeral and loses it in the act of possession. It disturbs our eyes and offers a quaint and unreliable possibility to touch. While we could expect the practice of taxidermy to disappear with the use of movies, it has become the object of a new fascination. It is more and more often involved in contemporary art installations that develop a critical discourse on our relationship to the living world or that embody a claim to a sensitivity shared with all creatures. Our awareness of extinguished species endows it with exceptional capacities. It is often approached through its reception. But the present study primarily shares the taxidermist’s perspective : we are with them, in their workshops, struggling with bodies, combining techniques, juggling with expectations. In Belgium, contrary to France, there is no specific training : taxidermy is transmitted from generation to generation, or learned on the job within a form of compagnonnage where apprentices refine their anatomical and ethological observations as well as their skills at conveying life. It still takes its cue from the shape of the living bodies, yet its skills and the demand it has to meet have changed. It somehow testifies to changes in how we perceive the animal kingdom and in how we generate ontological modes of identification. What does taxidermy do to naturalism out of which it developed ? What are the connections, the knowledge, the desires and passions at stake ?