“Taxidermy has been a particular fascination of mine ever since I was a small child. My family’s favorite pizza parlor was covered with nature’s lifeless bounty, as was Marsh’s Free Museum in Long Beach, Washington, where we had a beach house. With Jake the Alligator Man as a close personal friend, it is no wonder that I found myself drawn to The Breathless Zoo. Taxidermy isn’t a morbid or dark interest; it’s more about the awe and wonder of trying to capture a creature’s power and beauty. I think of it in the same vein as mummification—the urge to preserve life in a very small way. Like bottling fireflies. This book, however, takes the art to a whole new level. Each page is like peering into a new cubby of a curio cabinet.” —Morgan R., Powells.com. Buy The Breathless Zoo for your cabinet from Powell’s.
Face Out
The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing by Rachel Poliquin
March 19, 2013