Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-23-2018 2:45 PM Un/Dead Animal Art: Ethical Encounters Through Rogue Taxidermy Sculpture Miranda Niittynen The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Verwaayen, Kim The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Keep, Christopher The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Women's Studies and Feminist Research A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of FPhilosophyollow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd © Miranda Niittynen 2018 Part of the Art Practice Commons, Biodiversity Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, Feminist Philosophy Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Museum Studies Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Sculpture Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons, Visual Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Niittynen, Miranda, "Un/Dead Animal Art: Ethical Encounters Through Rogue Taxidermy Sculpture" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5675. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5675 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract Beginning in 2004, the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists began an art movement of taxidermied animal sculptures that challenged conventional forms of taxidermied objects massively produced and displayed on an international scale. In contrast to taxidermied ‘specimens’ found in museums, taxidermied ‘exotic’ wildlife decapitated and mounted on hunters' walls, or synthetic taxidermied heads bought in department stores, rogue taxidermy artists create unconventional sculptures that are arguably antithetical to the ideologies shaped by previous generations: realism, colonialism, masculinity. As a pop-surrealist art movement chiefly practiced among women artists, rogue taxidermy artists follow an ethical mandate to never kill animals for the purposes of art and often display their sculptures in ways that are self-reflexive of speciesism and express criticisms of anthropocentrism. Through an intersectional feminist lens and alongside critical insights from (and debates within) postcolonialism, deconstruction, and affect theory, I analyze the art pieces created by Sarina Brewer, Angela Singer, Polly Morgan, Scott Bibus, and Robert Marbury. In doing so, I explore the ethical ambiguities of using postmortem animal bodies in an art movement that is informed by animal rights, and also discuss the complexity of animal-human relationships in the face of human conceptualized impressions of life and death. Brushing up against the history of public autopsies and other forms of body preservation, I look to the ways in which bodies are made ‘taxidermic’ through violence, trauma, objectification, commodification, bio-engineered artificiality, extinction, and the discriminatory practices that represented certain (animal and human) bodies as ‘unruly.’ Tackling the frames that produce ‘taxidermic’ bodies (as exposable and exploitable skins), I challenge the anthropocentrism foundational to human thought and highlight the ways that humans produce and perpetuate hollowed out crypts of meaning as it applies to animality. Essentially, this project attempts to undermine anthropocentric worldviews that construct humans as separate and unique from what is understood and described as the ‘nonhuman,’ and, also, invites readers to confront and acknowledge how vulnerability and mortality are shared among humans (animals) and other nonhuman beings. Keywords Taxidermy, Animal Studies, Art, Feminism, Colebrook, Butler, Derrida, Postcolonialism, Speciesism, Anthropocentrism, Extinction, Ethics, Deconstruction, Affect, Exceptionalism, Ontology, Post-mortem, Corporeality, Dolly, Cloning, De-extinction, Cryptozoology i Acknowledgments My warmest thank you to my lovely community of family, friends, colleagues, and intellectual partners for all of the support I have received throughout my tenure at Western. First, I extend my greatest appreciation and deepest gratitude to my amazing supervisors, Dr. Kim Verwaayen and Dr. Christopher Keep. You are both incredible people and I am so lucky to have worked under your wing. Thank you for all of your insights, thoughtful questions, and positive encouragement as I moved forward with my (sometimes obscure) ideas and interests. I have learned so much from the both of you over the years and feel I have been awarded a special gift to have the two of you collaborate with me on this project. Thank you for your confidence in me, the special care you offered my work, and all of the time you have devoted to my successes. Kim, thank you for all the guidance, kindness, and friendship you have offered me since our first encounter at the beginning of my Master’s in 2010. I admire you so much. My own strengths in writing and thinking ethically have come from the patience and direction you have extended my way ever since we began to work together. Not only have you taught me to read closely, but you have also taught me to live a generous life with so much heart. Chris, thank you for everything you have taught me ever since we met in your Hauntings course. The insights I received from your course have had a lasting effect on my work and I knew back in 2013 that you would hold a very special role in this research project. I am so lucky you agreed to work with me. Your knowledge and expertise has challenged me intellectually in ways I cannot begin to count. You have truly helped me grow on so many levels and I have thoroughly enjoyed our many meetings and theoretical discussions. Thank you to the faculty, staff, and graduate students from the Women’s Studies and Feminist Research Department for providing me a special home where I could flourish, thrive, and learn from such an amazing group of people. Special thanks to my brilliant committee members, Dr. Helen Fielding and Dr. Wendy Pearson, for their thoughtful direction and excitement about my project. Thank you Dr. Chris Roulston, Dr. Erica Lawson, and Dr. Susan Knabe for your insights, support, and generosity over the years. Thank you Betty Thompson, Alicia McIntyre, and Marg Sloan for all of your help with everything, large and small. Thank you to my examining committee (again) Dr. Wendy Pearson and Dr. Erica Lawson, and Dr. Kirsty Robertson and Dr. Claire Colebrook for graciously offering their time to read my dissertation over the summer months. Thank you to all of the artists, museums, and businesses that granted me permission to use their images in this project. Special thanks to artists Sarina Brewer, Angela Singer, Scott Bibus, and Robert Marbury for their resources and for sharing their excitement in my project. Thank you Drs. Kim Marra, Jane Desmond, Margo DeMello, and Kenneth Shapiro and all the participants, faculty, and presenters who attended the 2017 Animal Studies Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Thank you for providing me the space to share my work and the opportunity to build a close community with so many wonderful people that share my interests in and passions for Human-Animal Studies. ii Special thanks to my friend and colleague Dr. Clara Sacchetti. You have taught me that academe is not just a space of knowledge and intellectual debate, but is also a space of generosity, love, and family. Thank you to my fabulous community of friends, especially Alicia Guzzell, Jennifer Chisholm, Adrienne Kowalchuk, Amelia Galizia, Jacob Evoy, Kim Dority, Jacqueline Potvin, Kelly and Simon Larochette, the Dontas family, and the McLeod family for all of their encouragement, friendship, and support throughout this process. Special thanks to Brian McLeod for his patience, positive attitude, and good humor. My warmest thanks to my fantastic and lovely friends and colleagues, Andie Shabbar and Mayme Lefurgey for their unconditional love, companionship, and camaraderie throughout this process. The support, time, and encouragement you have both dedicated to my success and happiness is nothing short of divine. Thank you to my wonderful family: my parents Melanie and Dennis and my sister Meghan (and Hemi) for always believing that I can reach my academic goals and supporting me in my many adventures. Thanks Auntie Val and Uncle Bob for their love and hospitality en route to London and thank you Auntie Hez and Uncle Brian for all of your advice and confidence in my successes. Special thanks to the loved ones I have lost along the way: Auntie Debbie, Mummu, Nanny, and Uncle Sam (I miss you every day). Finally, thank you to my loving animal companion Auty for her unconditional support and patience throughout this process and, most especially, her will to stick it out until the end. My Ph.D. has been generously supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Award (with distinction), the Department of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research, and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. This financial support has allowed me to travel for research, present my researching findings at national and international