My senior exhibition explores taxidermy not as a morbid act, but as a transformation– a space

where death becomes preservation and loss becomes display. I began this work after watching a

woman carefully taxidermy a deceased bird and position it onto a branch, arranging it to appear

alive. Having seen the stillness of its body moments before, I was struck by the illusion of

rebirth. That tension between what is gone and what appears lifelike reshaped my understanding

of endings. I began to see death as a reset of form and meaning. Taxidermy exposes a deeply

human desire to preserve what we fear losing and resist disappearance. There is an unsettling

quality in encountering a body that once lived and is now arranged to mimic life. The act of

touching, stitching, and reassembling a deceased animal brings us face to face with the reality of

existence. I see taxidermy as a beautiful act of creation. It is not simply about control, but about

creating presence, and giving something once living, a second life through careful

reconstruction.

Birds remain central in my imagery, as they are often associated with flight, movement, and

freedom. To see a creature that once moved effortlessly through the air, now flightless and still,

creates a contradiction. I am interested in how viewers respond to that stillness, to the quiet

tension between motion and immobility. Through mixed media of oil pastel, ink, and chalk

pastel, I emphasize stitching, layering, and assembling, creating surfaces that resemble the

taxidermy process. My work invites discomfort, but also tenderness and beauty. By revealing the

process rather than hiding it, I ask viewers to recognize that an end is not simply an end but a

new beginning.