If you’ve driven miles and miles across our beautiful state, you’re probably pretty familiar with roadkill. If you’re unfamiliar, roadkill is an unfortunate encounter between vehicles and the wildlife near the roads. From deer to raccoons, the type of wildlife subject to this danger is vast. There’s an interesting intersection where taxidermy and roadkill meet. If you do happen to find an elk on the side of the road that you’d like to repurpose yourself, check out Angela Montana’s great recipe on Elk Meatloaf!

THE ARTFORM

The artform of preserving dead animals benefits from the accidents on highways between animals and cars. This type of collection method can also benefit trappers, because we all know that they’re a resourceful bunch. There’s definitely criteria to be filled. Sometimes it’s a little too brutal to salvage and honor the animal. However, the pool of carcasses to choose from is vast, with over one million animals becoming roadkill in the US alone every single day. 

THE ARTIST

There’s an artist dedicated to this type of taxidermy specifically. Bunny Lane, who has a great selection of pieces that you can purchase. Bunny turns these pieces of roadkill into art to honor the animals in their natural death. Neighbors and people in her community keep her updated on the deaths around her. She also uses the material she salvages from her cat’s hunt. Bunny takes the typical taxidermy approach and flips it on its head. Her goal is to create abstract and eccentric sculptures with her specimens. Bunny is located out of Mississippi, but has pieces available for purchase in different places across the country. From galleries in New Orleans to New York City, you have a variety of options in purchasing pieces from Bunny. 

These colorful and flamboyant sculptures are available for viewing on Bunny’s instagram. She has showings in galleries across the country, and is at the forefront of a movement toward ethical taxidermy. She is quoted in saying, ‘You can buy a form of a squirrel holding a nut—how boring—but if you want to make a wildcat look like Little Richard you have to do it yourself.’ Bunny has extensive technical knowledge pertaining to taxidermy. She also has an out of the box and abstract approach to positioning, themes and emotion. Current pieces are also available for purchase at this link.