Norfolk Wildlife
From Beaches to the Broads
Photographed in the Ted Ellis Gallery, in the natural history wing of the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery.
The Ted Ellis gallery has a mysterious quality. Dimly lit, it is illuminated mainly from within its six taxidermy dioramas. The result is a sense of wonder and theatre. I wanted to capture some of this atmosphere; to memorialise these creatures; to create something abstract and surreal that would encourage the viewer to question the reality of the images.
Like a photograph, these dioramas are a time capsule - a fixed moment of both time and place. By photographing them, I am giving these animals a new lease of life and offering viewers who may never have seen them, or visited Norfolk, the chance to experience them for the first time and in that way I am fulfilling one of taxidermy’s original objectives.