The Glorious Twelfth: Background Reading Exploding the Myths of Taxidermy by Bram Arnold Taxidermy began its life with a dual purpose, utilised as both a scientific tool for proving the existence of new species and as a pursuit of the rich and curious collectors of the early Victorian era. This dual purpose can also be seen in the paradox inherent within taxidermy, a piece of taxidermy stands in the rare position of being both signifier – representational of something else, and signified – being constructed, as it is, of part of the original real animal. Taxidermy is real and fake, alive and dead, once purposeful now purposeless. The technological advances of society have eliminated its main purpose of being a tool to prove the existence of species in distant lands prior to the invention of photography. They have not however erased taxidermy’s ability to arouse intrigue in people and they remain a useful tool in education and museum display today. Though they have in the past been used in museum displays to advance the opinions of the curators – patriarchal displays and animal family units displayed in human terms instead of a realistic representation of their natural existence. Though an outdated and rarely practised art form today – there are only a few taxidermists left in this country at least – it still inspires a certain fascination. Though animals are always referred to as "stuffed", this is not actually the case. Instead the skin, after removal from the carcass and a series of treatments to increase the longevity of its existence, is stretched over a model of the animal carved from polyurethane foam. Nosepieces and lips are formed from epoxy resin and eyes are glass. Indeed much contemporary taxidermy is a total falsehood, not even the original skin is used as this is often more easy to produce from modern materials, as in the case of fish scales. In many ways the taxidermy sculpture is little more real than the more common stuffed toys of today, yet they have been used by man as a scientific tool to construct a view of society that favours its creators – as systems of classification and display invariably do. Falsehood displayed as truth, the fake displayed as real. From the Discotheque catalogue 'The Glorious Twelfth: A Field Guide to Species', 2005