Architecture of Body

I find it curious how we can sometimes find the architecture of dead animals disgusting and sometimes view it as a trophy to hang on our walls.

What bring this to mind, is this: I have a friend who, years ago, did a series of “Roadkill Portraits”—photos of dead animals in various stages of decomposition. I have one of a bunny and my coworker had one of a dog or coyote, which has since ended up with me. There is a curious beauty to these pictures once one gets past their gruesome nature. Oddly however, where many people are repelled by these honest images, others celebrate a trophy kill and have an animal stuffed and mounted. Granted these “trophies” are much more attractive than my friend’s photos, but they are both a weird sort of commemoration of death.

 I personally enjoy sometimes finding an intact skeleton of an animal in situ. One time, while looking for my runaway husky, I found the vertebra of a snake, loosely coiled as it might have been in life. I collected these vertebrae and have used them as a sort of bead in certain art pieces. Another time I found the skeleton of a bird, with the feathered wings still intact. It was a beautiful thing, an elegant framework of flight, reminding me of the framework of early planes.

The friend who did the roadkill series later did photos of “dead” dog toys. Much more humorous and easier to digest. I have one of those portraits too, a dog toy shaded the most subtle shade of pink.