The Breathless Zoo
From sixteenth-century cabinets of wonders to contemporary animal art, The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Culture of Longing examines the cultural and poetic history of preserving animals in lively postures. But why would anyone want to preserve an animal, and what is this animal-thing now? The Breathless Zoo suggests that taxidermy is entwined with the enduring human longing to find meaning with and within the natural world.
By drawing out the longings at the heart of taxidermy – the longing for wonder, beauty, spectacle, order, narrative, allegory, and remembrance – The Breathless Zoo explores the animal spectacles desired by particular communities, human assumptions of superiority, the yearnings for hidden truths within animal form, and the loneliness and longing that haunt our strange human existence, being both within and apart from nature.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Wonder
2 Beauty
3 Spectacle
4 Order
5 Narrative
6 Allegory
7 Remembrance
Notes
Index
Rachel Poliquin is a writer and curator engaged with the cultural and poetic history of the natural world. She has curated taxidermy exhibits for the Museum of Vancouver and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. Poliquin is the author of www.ravishingbeasts.com, a website dedicated to exploring the cultural history of taxidermy.
| Pm Supplier | Wiley & Sons Ltd |
|---|---|
| Pm Publisher | Pennsylvania State University Press |
| Pm Isbn 10 | 0271053739 |
| Pm Isbn 13 | 9780271053738 |
| Pm Publication Date | 2013-05-15 |
| Pm Width | 204 |
| Pm Height | 17 |
| Pm Author | Poliquin,Rachel |
| Pm Longness | 230 |
- Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing
- Key Info: colour & b/w photos, b/w illustrations
- Author: Poliquin,Rachel
- Page Count: 272
- Publication Date: 2013-05-15
The Breathless Zoo
- Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing
- Key Info: colour & b/w photos, b/w illustrations
- Author: Poliquin,Rachel
- Page Count: 272
- Publication Date: 2013-05-15
