Taxidermy

“As I entered the tiny studio, the strong smell of dead animal hit me, but I soon grew accustomed to it through the evening. [...] First of all, we were told to massage the dead mice with our hands to warm them up, as they were still cold from the freezer. Then, we made the first incision down the length of the belly. There were “ooos” and “ahhs” as we sliced away the skin from the flesh. [...] For me, the most difficult part was detaching the tail, which required a lot of patience as – if it wasn’t removed properly– the animal would start attracting flies. Washing the mouse was a strange experience. We had to remove our latex gloves for this and when I came in contact with the mouse I jumped slightly at the sensation it created against my skin.”

“To do a case incision, you lie the animal on its back, hind legs spread apart, and make a single clean scalpel cut from the inside of one ankle, up along what would be its inseam, and down to the other ankle. Skinning requires great care and precision as well as knowledge of anatomy. When everything is going well, it’s a deeply satisfying task and when I get into a rhythm, I can do it for hours without noticing the time pass except for a growing stiffness in my neck and shoulders from bending over. You gently pull the skin away from the flesh until you see a little glistening silver web of connective tissue, which you neatly sever with a scalpel, and then the freed skin pulls away a little more, and it’s pull, slice, pull, slice, the skin sliding off in one whole piece like pulling off a sweater.”