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Bonnie Wood is a rogue taxidermist from Norwich, England. Traditional taxidermy focuses on making deceased animals appear as lifelike and realistic as possible. Rogue taxidermists tend to take artistic license in the reassembly and posing of the stuffed animals. Bonnie explains, “Commonly, [rogue taxidermy] is understood as the creation of animals that do not exist in reality — for example a Fiji mermaid or jackalope.”

Like a painting of a skull on a desk with a piece of rotting fruit beside it, Wood’s creations are vanitas in art. They remind us of the state of entropy in which we exist, and how close each one of us is to death at any given moment. In her line of fashion accessories, Amore de Mori, Wood uses animal skulls and dead insects, swirling them with sensual accents of pearls, feathers, and lace.

“To me, bones, skulls especially, are like jewels. The pearls and lace aren’t meant to contrast but to fit in with their beauty…I’m trying to present ‘fashion’ items in all their frivolity and arrogance (vanity) with the reminder that ultimately appearance is a futile goal as everything is going to end up the same way — dead.”

More than just a creator of fashion accessories, Wood has a line of work she refers to as “Sleep” — her personal taxidermy art. This work is visionary in the most literal sense of the term. During a severe bout of insomnia, Wood experienced a vision that inspired her to create her first piece of taxidermy art.

“Lying in bed one night I had a vision of the Virgin Mary casting a sleepy amber beacon of light to all dead and dying animals. That light was the salvation of eternal sleep. I knew after that that I wanted to preserve animals in this eternal ‘sleep.’” Two compelling pieces from her “Sleep” collection are visible in the gallery above — the squirrel with a flower emerging from its midsection, titled “Flora and Fauna,” and the rabbit holding an ornate silver cross, titled “Virgin Bunny.”

Two particular art movements inspire Wood — the movement best known as Babyart and modern vanitas: “I have a massive passion for art work. Work-wise, artists like Vania Zouravliov, Joel Peter Witkin, and Jan Svankmajer [are inspirational]. On a personal level, [I gravitate towards Babyart] artists like Trevor Brown, Gotfried Helnwein, and Hans Bellmer.” Wood explains, “Babyart moves me because I had a couple of events in my childhood that made me believe that children are far from innocents — one was that I was sexually bullied by older children when I was five, the other was witnessing a brother and sister of around the ages four and six have sex whilst on a camping holiday — I was about 10. I feel very strange around children; I believe books like Lord of the Flies could quite easily have been fact. I don’t plan on having any of my own. At the same time, I’m very nostalgic for the way things were as a child, so Babyart panders to this bitter sweet feeling.”

Wood adheres to a set of personal ethics when it comes to selecting art materials: “I basically will only do what I’m comfortable with, and only use animals that didn’t meet their end for my art.” She often makes use of rabbits and pigeons that are routinely killed as pests — she has an exterminator contact, and the animals would otherwise be incinerated. Wood also utilizes road kill, frozen rats that are to be used as reptile food, and she occasionally makes purchases on eBay, after questioning the sellers to make sure they’re not trappers. Despite the controversial nature of her medium, she’s had very few negative encounters with animal rights activists.

“When [I receive criticism] from vegans I understand it, and believe part of their argument to be valid. When it’s from people that use animal products I have little time for their point of view. I believe that making animal remains into something beautiful is far more respectful than buying a [meal at] McDonald’s…I think people like that need to look more internally before they judge.

“When I was at art school I was told the work I was creating wasn’t ‘art’ at all,” Wood recalls. “My teachers tried to sculpt me into the right artist for them, and not for myself…I was basically told that what I did would ultimately wind up as nothing. My greatest achievement is proving them all wrong. The best revenge is to live well.”