R.I.P.
The photographic soft sculptures commemorate the penultimate resting places of creatures gathered after death, then shrouded in cotton and cheesecloth for flesh removal by a dermestid beetle colony. They were meant to be specimens for teaching biology. Instead, they were abandoned and the beetles died.
Decades later, I rescued the trays of remains when they were deemed trash, sequestering them for several years in an old greenhouse on the roof of the science building. I liked the aged and weathered coverings and was content to let them be. Eventually, I photographed them in their undisturbed state, then, finally, lifted the coverings to see and photograph what was underneath. When I could keep them no longer, they were incinerated as hazardous waste.
Carol Selter
March, 2010