Being a Kemp Town resident I regularly have a passing perusal at the Brighton Flea Market on Upper St. James Street. Packed to the rafters with vintage wares there is often a bargain to be had. On a recent visit I was quite taken aback by what I have now named 'The Cabinet of Death', located just inside the entrance.
We have been obsessing about all things Victorian for some time, from the ubiquitous pocket-watch to their fascination with taxidermy. The word taxidermy actually comes from the Greek word for arrangement of skin. It is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The animal is first skinned, a process similar to removing the skin from a chicken before cooking! This can be done without opening the body cavity so there's no need to be involved with blood and gore. The skin is tanned and then placed on a carved or cast form, before glass eyes are installed.
During the Victorian era, taxidermy was an object of inner design and decor and accompanied the Western view of human superiority over animals. The term 'stuffed animals' came from the 19th century crude form of taxidermy when hunters brought their trophies to upholstery shops where the upholsterers would sew up the animal skins and stuff them with rags.
We have been obsessing about all things Victorian for some time, from the ubiquitous pocket-watch to their fascination with taxidermy. The word taxidermy actually comes from the Greek word for arrangement of skin. It is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The animal is first skinned, a process similar to removing the skin from a chicken before cooking! This can be done without opening the body cavity so there's no need to be involved with blood and gore. The skin is tanned and then placed on a carved or cast form, before glass eyes are installed.
During the Victorian era, taxidermy was an object of inner design and decor and accompanied the Western view of human superiority over animals. The term 'stuffed animals' came from the 19th century crude form of taxidermy when hunters brought their trophies to upholstery shops where the upholsterers would sew up the animal skins and stuff them with rags.
There are all sorts of wonderful creatures in The Cabinet of Death; birds, bats, snakes, cats, dogs........ I was particularly taken with a cocker spaniel puppy in it's own presentation glass fronted box, it's eyes were definitely following me as I moved from side to side...a casual observer must have thought me bonkers as I weaved and bobbed up and down, left and right, fascinated by the puppy's unrelenting stare.
A kitty-cat called 'Mr. Tiddles' also caught my eye, but not in a good way as it's face is just quite WRONG. I hope it's expression isn't reprentative of the of the way it died...perhaps it choked on a lemon or saw Kemp Town self-proclaimed sex goddess Letitcia with no make-up on.
There seems to be a strange practise of dressing up the animals in various costumes with their own props...'Nutkins Hendrix' for example, a squirrel with a rock guitar! Isn't that a bit disrespectable? Would Jimi approve? Obviously this wasn't a specimin from the Victorian era!
I have to admit that I was quite tempted by the Two for Joy magpies.. a mere snip at £90, but thought better of it as I didn't think my vegan lady would be very impressed. Plus, could I handle something dead in our 1970's cabinet next to our doppelganger Barbies on their Vespa? No I don't think so.
What's next fashion wise I wonder? Will we be wearing Tudor hats and bringing back beheading?
Brighton Flea Market, 31a Upper St. James Street, Kemp Town, BN2 1JN
Open 7 days a week
'The Cabinet of Death'
'Mr. Tiddles'
Our doppelganger Barbies
