The term 'Potter's Field' is given to land used as a common grave for the unclaimed or unknown, a name that could also be given to a taxidermist’s freezer.
Using our anthropomorphic connection to taxidermy, Antoinette Ratcliffe’s Potter’s Field opens up a dialogue around the relationships between people, the land and wildlife, using only ethically sourced specimens.
Artist bio
Antoinette completed her Master of Arts at The School of Media Arts (Wintec) in 2011. She began learning taxidermy in 2015, and introduced the media into her artwork the following year.
Antoinette is a committee member of the Australasian Institute of Anatomical Sciences, and has been a member of the New Zealand Taxidermy Association since 2015, attending workshops taken by World Taxidermy Championship award winners Mike Orthober, Dale Manning, Wendy Christensen, and Allis Markham, along with private tuition with Peter Wells.
Her taxidermy pieces are held in collections with the New Zealand Bird Society (Auckland), Upper Hutt Predator Free Trust, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, Owhango Alive, North Otago Museum, Wētā, and in private collections in New Zealand, USA, Australia and the UK. Her pieces are also available at Brown & Co Wellington and Flora Fauna in Queenstown.
Along with being a taxidermy artist, Antoinette was also a speaker at TEDxPipitea, presenting her talk ‘What’s so ethical about ethical taxidermy’ in 2021, and works on taxidermy pieces in an art conservator role for collectors in New Zealand.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antoinetteratcliffe/
Website: www.the-sick-bay.com
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