Making art out of death.
He was 8 years old when he saw the first stuffed animal. He told me that his heart sank, a peculiar feeling that he could not put into words. For several days he only thought about the animal, how it died and how someone revived it, but this time forever. Right at this moment he knew that this would be his life. By pure chance he found out that there was a taxidermist in the neighborhood where he lived as a child. He found him and began to beg to be thought. After 2 months of every daystanding at the teacher's door, he took him on board as an apprentice. 61 years have passed since then. At the moment he works for the National Natural History Museum, all the hunters in my country know him, as well as people who find dead animals on the road.
Under his fingernails there is blood. There is so much death around him. But he's used to that. For him it is art. To revive the dead body and give it a worthy eternal life. Furthermore, he is also a biologist who knows everything about the lives of different species, how they hunt, what facial expressions they make, how they move their bodies. This is very important so the pose in which he puts them is real and mimics their life. This knowledge shows how good the taxidermist is. Some hunters want to immortalize their catch, which gives them more confidence. Very often people find dead animals on the road, take them to him and he revives the animal. He refuses to work with prohibited and protected animals. Strictly follows the law and thus sets an example of ethical behavior.
