Nature and Culture - animal as object

Explore the objectification of animals through taxidermy and souvenirs | 13 Dec 2024 to 2 Feb 2025

Nature and Culture - animal as object
Deb Mostert | Shrimp Hook Plush Whale | 2023 | oil on canvas | 102 x 72 cm | Image courtesy of the artist

Based on years of observation and research within the bird and mammal collections at the Queensland Museum, this body of work seeks to explore the objectification of animals in nature through taxidermy, and in culture through the souvenir. We have, and are creating, facsimiles and profiting from these copies despite the real risk of losing the originals.

What is our uneasy relationship with animal objects, particularly taxidermy and the mass-produced souvenir? As a self-confessed collector, what is my responsibility in all this? Why do I tend to want to order and display, collect and own the natural world?

Through mashups of early scientific taxonomy charts and illustrations, museum taxidermy, pop culture and the mass-produced souvenir, this body of work is presented as a contemporary Wunderkammer (a cabinet of curiosity). It asks questions about artifice, collection, consumerism, mimicry, wonder and beauty.

LocationEventDate and timeRegistration
Caloundra Regional GalleryLaunchThursday 12 December, 6-8pmTBC
Caloundra Regional GalleryExhibitionFriday 13 December 2024 to Sunday 2 February 2025Not required

Acknowledgement

This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.