Since we profiled Divya Anantharaman and her taxidermy shoes last summer, she’s become a “taxidermist in residence” at Morbid Anatomy, an enterprise dedicated to “cool stuff that’s at the intersection of art, science, and death.”
Founded by Tracey Martin and Tonya Hurley, a pair of twins who grew up in the funeral parlor business, Morbid Anatomy recently expanded into a huge new space in Gowanus that houses a museum, library, cafe and learning center. (If you can’t swing the $50 admission to the grand opening party tomorrow, the inaugural exhibition opens Saturday).
The empire of death was actually founded seven years ago, around the time Divya got her start as well. Back then, the rogue taxidermist found it difficult to find a mentor. “There are not a lot of traditional taxidermists who are willing to teach someone, especially not some random person living in Brooklyn,” she explained.
If you’re in a similar predicament, click through the slideshow as Divya shows how to perform taxidermy on a surplus mouse from a snake food supply company. If you’re squeamish, it might be best to sit this one out. But, Divya assured us, “anyone who’s cooked chicken before has seen similar stuff.”