During the
era of Western history in which imperial expansion was at its highest,
particularly that of the British Empire, the taxidermy of wild animals obtained
from hunting expeditions throughout the colonies was prevalent. The products of
these practices would often be placed within museums, which, at their infancy, were
increasingly demanding specimens to fill their exhibitions, as well as in the private
homes and businesses of the individuals who captured or taxidermied them (Gregory, 2012). The animals selected for this treatment were generally the pinnacle of
exotica and danger in the eyes of the hunters, such as large predatory mammals,
although there are also instances of non-threatening species being selected as
well (Desmond, 2008). In terms of the taxidermy of animals as trophies of the
hunt, it was wild species rather than domesticated animals that were selected.
The individuals would ideally be at the peak of physicality in order to complete the
desired effect of “taming the beast;” elderly or feeble animals would not be
deemed worthy of this treatment, although young animals would be included (Desmond, 2008).
The taxidermied
animals embodied a duality in both their representations and their
contributions to identity construction. These creatures were individualized
trophies of a specific hunting incident, representing the singular event in
question, but at the same time, were representatives of their species as a
whole (Gregory, 2012; Desmond, 2008); if placed in a museum after the hunt
and consequential taxidermy, for example, the animal symbolizes both an
individual predator/prey scenario for those involved in its procurement, and a
generalized depiction of the specific taxa at large. As well, the taxidermied
specimen constituted the physical remains of a deceased individual, very much
reduced to an object of manufacture, but at the same time is shaped and
positioned in a manner to create as life-like a representation as possible, ironically
erasing traces of the actual event of the animal’s death from the skin of the resulting
figure (Desmond, 2008).
The utilization
of the animal in constructing identities is dual in nature as well, for the
colonial hunter is enforcing his masculine, dominant identity by exerting his
power over that of another, while also contributing to the imperial identity characterized
by conquest, plunder, and accumulation of resources and treasures (Gregory, 2012). The taxidermied animal placed within museums as tools in the pursuit
of scientific knowledge fosters the image of the colonizing body as
subordinating and taming the exotic. In its procurement and modification, the
taxidermied figure is employed in the production of both an individual, masculine,
power-wielding identity of the hunter, and the general, expansionist, exploiting
national identity of the Empire. It can be argued that once the figure loses
the original context of how it was procured and by whom, it no longer fosters the
individual identity (Gregory, 2012); remaining a symbol of the colonial quest
for knowledge and ownership of the exotic, it will continue to support the
Imperial identity.
While
the practice of modern taxidermy has been transformed into an eccentric hobby,
the original intentions of taxidermy, as display pieces of the exotic, remain ubiquitous; museums still employ
taxidermied specimens within their exhibits, prioritizing direct observation as
the primary method of obtaining knowledge. Often the artifacts of Victorian era
taxidermy are stored away and virtually forgotten, outlasting the individuals
that manufactured them. Curiously, the deceased animal remains are resurrected
by the taxidermy practices for which they were killed, given in a sense an
immortality that inevitably outlives the hunter and taxidermist (Desmond, 2008).
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