Emma Brown - Defining Practices

Untitled (2012) Chicks and resin

I am interested in the idea of the museum and its reflection on human nature and our desire to accumulate, protect and preserve, not only artifacts but life.

Natural History collections traditionally employed taxidermy to preserve animals and present them in a lifelike state. I have used resin in this piece to encase and conserve a dead chick in its ‘true state’, reflecting contemporary ethical concerns regard-ing collecting and preserving natural specimens. Day old male chicks are the waste product of Battery Farm egg production, discarded and overlooked. Here they are redeemed and given value by preserving their physical presence.

Untitled

Detail of Untitled