Title: The postmodern animal.
Author: Baker, Steve
Why: This gave me great insight into postmodernism and the postmodern animal, which meant expanding into human and animal relationships historically, presently and in the future. Also gave me some really appropriate artists to look into which I would have found hard to find before.
Title: Considering animals: contemporary studies in human-animal relations.
Author: Watt, Yvette (ed.); Leane, Elizabeth (ed.); Freeman, Carol (ed.)
Why: Will give me insight into human-animal relations and rethinking about considering animals from a human perspective.
Title: Drawn from paradise: the discovery, art and natural history of the birds of paradise.
Author: Fuller, Errol; Attenborough, David
Why: This book gives me a deeper understanding of one particular animal; 'birds of paradise'. But through this specific topic we can see how humans have used animals as beauty in art, an alternative to the postmodern perspective.
Title: Animals in art.
Author: Brion, Marcel
Why: To give me more insight in how humans have used animals in art historically.
Title: James Gillray: the art of caricature
Author: Godfrey, Richard
Why: I thought this book would be useful as there would be a lot of caricatures that use animals or animal features and characteristics to make examples of humans or accentuate their negative qualities. However in fact I found almost no direct animal comparisons in his caricatures so I didn't explore Gillray in my essay, although I am sure it would be possible to do but it didn't seem very necessary.
Title: Taxidermy.
Author: Turner, Alexis
Why: This book was extremely useful to me in my research into taxidermy. I did not know too much about the topic and I found out a lot about the craft as well as its terminology and history.
Title: Stuffed animals and pickled heads: the culture of natural history museums.
Author: Asma, Stephen T.
Why: This book will be useful to me particularly for my practical work as I want to create a make-believe animal but create human 'evidence' for the existence of this animal. We rely on human evidence heavily to suggest history of both ourselves and animals and nature. Be this folk tales, artwork, jewelry or garments. A cabinet of curiosities is the type of collection I want to make but I will investigate more into this particularly through research in this specific book. The made up animal will be incorporating animal elements such as horns, fur and feathers, that humans take from the dead animal to use for their own aesthetic or tools. I also wanted to show the main theory of why Homo sapiens are so powerful; language/communication but in particular the ability to believe in shared myths. Shared myths range from religion to corporations like Green Peace. The imagined animal I create will be a shared myth... the evidence will be jewelry and garments showing how we take from animals, but also wall paintings showing the history and threat of the animal, plush toys of the baby animal or photographs with the baby as pet. and artwork/shrines to the animal as a deity, that show the power of shared myths and thus the power of humans.
Title: Finders, keepers: eight collectors.
Author: Purcell, Rosalind Wolff; Gould, Stephen Jay
Why: Collections; this book will also be really helpful regarding my made-up animal.
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