Taxidermy for beginners

A collaborative artwork created by poet Fay Musselwhite and film maker & taxidermist Susannah Gent. This ‘poetry film’ takes a contemplative journey to a deer farm abattoir to collect deer’s heads for taxidermy. The poem considers the problematically secretive nature of abattoirs and the Western refusal to engage with slaughter and our position in the food chain.

This film is one of a body of poetry and film work made by the collaborating artists. The work was originally created for live performance and was performed for the Sheffield Poetry Festival 2011 and ‘Off the Shelf’ literary festival in the same year. The artists have a keen interest in what it means to be human and the effects of urbanisation and modern culture on the ‘human animal’.