動(dòng)物標(biāo)本制作，懷一顆慈悲的心

A Kinder, Gentler Taxidermy

動(dòng)物標(biāo)本制作，懷一顆慈悲的心

If you visit Alison Raleigh at home, in Hoboken, N.J., one of the first things you’re likely to notice is all the taxidermy: There’s a deer head in the bathroom, a stuffed pheasant and crow on the mantel, a ram’s head in the study. She bought a lot of it on eBay. But some of it she made herself.

你要是去艾莉森·羅利(Alison Raleigh)在新澤西州霍波肯(Hoboken)的家里做客，首先會(huì)注意到的一件事，可能就是滿屋子的標(biāo)本：浴室里有一顆鹿頭，壁爐架上擺著一只雉雞和烏鴉的標(biāo)本，書房里放著一顆公羊頭。其中很多是她在eBay上買的，但有些則是她自己做的。

“I was collecting all this taxidermy,” said Ms. Raleigh, 40, a stay-at-home mother of two. “Then I thought, why can’t I just do it? I’m not squeamish.”

“我本來(lái)是在收藏標(biāo)本，”羅利說(shuō)，她今年40歲，全職在家?guī)蓚€(gè)孩子，“后來(lái)我想，為什么不自己做呢?反正我也不是有潔癖的人。”

There are those who may say that do-it-yourself taxidermy is taking D.I.Y. just a little too far. But not Ms. Raleigh, and many others like her, who are learning this time-honored tradition in classes offered at a variety of venues across the country, including natural history museums, nature centers and even restaurants.

有些人可能會(huì)說(shuō)，自己做標(biāo)本，是把DIY的精神發(fā)揚(yáng)得有點(diǎn)過(guò)火了。但是羅利和許多同道中人并不這么認(rèn)為。他們正在參加培訓(xùn)班，學(xué)習(xí)這種經(jīng)久不衰的傳統(tǒng)手藝。全國(guó)各地、各式各樣的場(chǎng)館都在開設(shè)標(biāo)本剝制培訓(xùn)班，包括自然歷史博物館、自然中心，甚至是餐館。

And doing your own taxidermy, Ms. Raleigh was quick to add, is the only way you can make sure the animals are ethically sourced.

而且，羅利很快補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，只有自己制作標(biāo)本，才能確保制作標(biāo)本的動(dòng)物是通過(guò)人道方式取得的。

That’s right: For those who want to make sure the moose and deer mounted on their walls have been treated at least as humanely as the free-range cows slaughtered for their burgers, there is now ethical taxidermy.

沒有錯(cuò)：對(duì)于自制標(biāo)本的人而言，人道的標(biāo)本剝制術(shù)是存在的。他們希望裝飾在自家墻上的駝鹿和鹿，至少能夠像漢堡供貨商放養(yǎng)的牛一樣，在生前得到人道的對(duì)待。

Mickey Alice Kwapis, 23, a self-taught taxidermy instructor in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of its proponents. The animals she uses — rabbits, squirrels, mice, guinea pigs — were not killed for art’s sake, she said. They were raised and painlessly euthanized to serve as food for reptiles and large cats. Ms. Kwapis gets them from a company called Rodent Pro, which supplies animals to pet stores and zoos.

23歲的米琪·愛麗絲·夸皮斯(Mickey Alice Kwapis)是一名自學(xué)成材的標(biāo)本制作老師，住在俄亥俄州的克利夫蘭(Cleveland)。她就是上述理念的支持者之一。她說(shuō)自己所使用的動(dòng)物——兔子、松鼠、老鼠、豚鼠，都不是以藝術(shù)的名義殺死的。它們是那種被飼養(yǎng)長(zhǎng)大后安樂(lè)死，作為爬行動(dòng)物和大型貓科動(dòng)物食物的小動(dòng)物?？淦に褂糜谥谱鳂?biāo)本的動(dòng)物，來(lái)自一家為寵物店和動(dòng)物園供應(yīng)動(dòng)物的公司Rodent Pro。

Ms. Kwapis holds her classes in unlikely places like tattoo parlors and restaurants. “As long as you clean up afterward, there’s nothing to say you can’t hold a taxidermy class anywhere,” she said. “After all, a rabbit has less bacteria than a chicken.”

夸皮斯的開課地點(diǎn)，都在一些令人意想不到的場(chǎng)所，比如刺青店和餐館。“只要你在事后搞好衛(wèi)生，就沒什么地方是不能開標(biāo)本剝制課的，”她說(shuō)，“畢竟，兔子體內(nèi)的細(xì)菌還沒有肉雞多。”

In addition to teaching her students how to stuff the animals, Ms. Kwapis instructs them on how to prepare the meat for eating, although, she added, “I actually have a lot of vegans in my classes.”

除了教學(xué)生怎么剝制標(biāo)本外，夸皮斯還會(huì)教他們?cè)鯓訉⑹Ｓ嗖挥玫娜庾龀刹耍徊贿^(guò)，她補(bǔ)充道，“我其實(shí)有很多素食主義的學(xué)員。”

She also shows them how to preserve the organs in jars (if that aesthetic appeals to them) and how to clean the bones to make jewelry or grind them up for fertilizer. “Nothing goes to waste,” she said.

她還會(huì)跟他們展示，如何將器官保存在罐子里(前提是他們能夠接受這樣的美學(xué));如何將骨頭清潔干凈，做成飾品，或者磨成骨粉，用作肥料。“沒有一樣?xùn)|西會(huì)被浪費(fèi)。”她說(shuō)。

Ms. Raleigh, who learned taxidermy earlier this year in classes held at the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn, takes a similar approach. Like Ms. Kwapis, she gets her animals from reptile feed companies. And she makes use of the entire animal, feeing the innards of the mice she uses in her mounts to her dog.

羅利也采用了類似的方法。今年早些時(shí)候，她在布魯克林病理解剖博物館(Morbid Anatomy Museum)學(xué)會(huì)了標(biāo)本剝制術(shù)。和夸皮斯一樣，她也是從爬行動(dòng)物飼料公司那里獲得用于制作標(biāo)本的動(dòng)物的。而且，她會(huì)將動(dòng)物的全身加以利用，她將制作老鼠標(biāo)本剩下的內(nèi)臟喂給了自己家的狗。

“My dog is on a raw-food diet,” she said.

“我家的狗現(xiàn)在吃生食了。”她說(shuō)。

What exactly constitutes ethics when it comes to taxidermy, however, depends on whom you consult. Allis Markham, 31, sees it a little differently.

然而，就制作標(biāo)本而言，究竟怎樣做才稱得上是道德的，不同的人有不同看法。31歲的愛麗絲·馬克漢姆(Allis Markham)在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上和別人稍有分歧。

“Using animals killed for pet food is the same to me as factory farming,” said Ms. Markham, an assistant in the taxidermy department at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and owner of Prey Taxidermy, which creates mounts for Hollywood productions and offers how-to courses. “Just like the meat I eat, the animals I use for my taxidermy can’t have been raised in an industrial way.”

“對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，把作為寵物飼料殺死的動(dòng)物拿來(lái)做標(biāo)本，跟工廠化飼養(yǎng)是一回事。”馬克漢姆說(shuō)。她在洛杉磯自然歷史博物館(Natural History Museum)的動(dòng)物標(biāo)本部做助理，也是“標(biāo)本”(Prey Taxidermy)的所有者。這家工作室為好萊塢影片提供剝制標(biāo)本，并開設(shè)培訓(xùn)課程。“就跟我吃的肉一樣，我用來(lái)做標(biāo)本的動(dòng)物也不能是通過(guò)工業(yè)化方式飼養(yǎng)出來(lái)的。”

Ms. Markham gets animals for her classes — typically starlings, quails, squirrels, ducklings and raccoons — from pest control operators who would otherwise have disposed of them in a landfill or from game breeders after the animals have died a natural death. The larger animals she uses in her film work, like deer and peacocks, were either killed by hunters for food or died of natural causes in captivity.

馬克漢姆教課所用的動(dòng)物，通常是已經(jīng)自然死亡的椋鳥、鵪鶉、松鼠、小鴨和浣熊，其來(lái)源有兩個(gè)：一是病蟲害防治工作者那里的死動(dòng)物。若不被馬克漢姆收走，它們也會(huì)被丟棄到垃圾場(chǎng);二是野生動(dòng)物飼養(yǎng)者。而她在影視作品中使用的體型較大的動(dòng)物——比如鹿和孔雀，要么是被獵人獵殺的，要么是在圈養(yǎng)過(guò)程中自然死亡的。

“There’s no shortage of invasive species killed for abatement or animals that died naturally,” Ms. Markham said.

“為了生態(tài)平衡而被獵殺的入侵物種以及自然死亡的動(dòng)物，是源源不斷的。”馬克漢姆說(shuō)。

But she draws the line at stuffing people’s departed pets. “I’m not going to be able to put life back in its eyes the way the owner knew and loved it,” she said.

但是，將別人過(guò)世的寵物做成標(biāo)本，就超越了她的底限。“要讓這些寵物的眼神回復(fù)它們主人曾經(jīng)熟悉和愛憐的生動(dòng)模樣，對(duì)此我無(wú)能為力。”她說(shuō)。

Ms. Markham has decorated her own home with some 30 mounts, including a black bear, impala, antelope and jackal buzzard. Her husband, David Iserson, a writer who has worked on “Mad Men” and “Saturday Night Live,” has been “incredibly supportive of my work,” she said. “And incredibly grossed out.”

馬克漢姆已經(jīng)在家里裝飾了30多個(gè)標(biāo)本，包括一頭黑熊、一只黑斑羚、一只羚羊、一只暗棕鵟。她的丈夫戴維·伊澤森(David Iserson)曾參與《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)和《周六夜現(xiàn)場(chǎng)》(Saturday Night Live)的創(chuàng)作，他一直“對(duì)我的工作表現(xiàn)出難以置信的支持，”她說(shuō)，“以及難以置信的厭惡。”

While ethical codes may vary, most taxidermy classes are popular enough to have waiting lists. Students and instructors tend to be women in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Men take the classes as well, instructors say, but usually with a girlfriend or spouse.

雖然秉承的人道準(zhǔn)則可能有所不同，但大多數(shù)標(biāo)本制作培訓(xùn)課都很有人氣，還有人在排隊(duì)候補(bǔ)。學(xué)生和老師往往都是二十幾到四十幾歲的女性。培訓(xùn)者說(shuō)，也有男性學(xué)員報(bào)名，但通常都是和女友或伴侶一起來(lái)。

“I get a lot of lawyers,” Ms. Kwapis said. “I don’t know what that means.”

“我的學(xué)員當(dāng)中有很多律師，”夸皮斯說(shuō)，“我也不知道這意味著什么。”

Courses can cost $100 to $500 (including supplies) and take several hours, which may be spread over a couple of days. Lessons on skinning, disemboweling, wiring the animal and making a mold are followed by lots of grooming and preening using tweezers and blow dryers, to get the animal looking as fresh and lifelike as possible.

課程培訓(xùn)費(fèi)可達(dá)100至500美元(約合人民幣612至3062元)(包括材料費(fèi))，學(xué)時(shí)要持續(xù)好幾個(gè)小時(shí)，可能會(huì)分幾天進(jìn)行。課程涉及剝皮、去除內(nèi)臟、為動(dòng)物支架和制模，此后，就需要學(xué)員用鑷子和吹風(fēng)機(jī)在整形上花費(fèi)大量功夫了，以使標(biāo)本盡可能顯得栩栩如生。

“It’s kind of like sculpture, kind of like painting, almost like hairdressing, almost like sewing,” said Nina Masuda, 36, a graphic designer in Los Angeles who has taken three classes with Ms. Markham, in which she stuffed a starling, a quail and a squirrel. “I thought it would be all science-y, and I’m, like, fluffing up this bird’s hair, trying to give it some volume.”

“這有點(diǎn)像雕塑，又有點(diǎn)像作畫，幾乎接近美發(fā)，又十分接近縫紉。”36歲的妮娜·增田(Nina Masuda)說(shuō)。她是洛杉磯的一名平面設(shè)計(jì)師，在馬克漢姆那里上過(guò)三堂課，課上制作過(guò)三個(gè)標(biāo)本——一只椋鳥、一只鵪鶉和一只松鼠。“我本以為它會(huì)帶有很強(qiáng)的科學(xué)色彩，結(jié)果我所做的卻像是，一直在蓬松這只鳥頭上的羽毛，試圖讓它的毛量顯得多一些。”

Ms. Masuda’s mounts have been naturalistic, but students in other taxidermy classes often create anthropomorphic pieces: mice sipping tea from tiny cups, say, or a rabbit strumming a tiny guitar. And then there are the so-called rogue creations, like “Game of Thrones"-inspired three-eyed ravens, or bunnies with squid tentacles.

增田的標(biāo)本走的是自然主義路線;而其他培訓(xùn)課學(xué)員往往會(huì)創(chuàng)作出擬人化的作品：比如，用小巧的杯子喝茶的老鼠，或是彈著小吉他的兔子。還有一些所謂的惡作劇作品，比如受《權(quán)力的游戲》(Game of Thrones)啟發(fā)而做出的三眼烏鴉，或是長(zhǎng)著烏賊觸手的兔子。

Ms. Raleigh, in Hoboken, has made one mouse with quail wings and another wearing little clogs and drinking a glass of wine; she has also created a tableau of two mice embracing on a heart-shaped pedestal, as a present for her husband.

霍波肯的羅利給一只老鼠配上了鵪鶉翅膀，給另一只穿上了小木屐，讓它做出喝葡萄酒的樣子;她還為兩只老鼠做了一個(gè)舞臺(tái)造型，讓它們?cè)谝粋€(gè)心形基座上擁抱，然后將這件作品作為禮物送給了丈夫。

“He said it was the most romantic gift he’d ever gotten,” she said.

“他說(shuō)，那是他收到的最浪漫的禮物。”她說(shuō)。

Her friends’ reactions, however, have been mixed.

然而，她朋友的反應(yīng)就各不相同了。

“Half of them say: ‘Oh, that is so disgusting. How can you do that?’ And the other half say: ‘Neat! Can do you make one for me?’ ”

“有半數(shù)的人說(shuō)：‘噢，那好惡心啊。你怎么能做這個(gè)?’還有一半人說(shuō)：‘酷斃了!你能不能給我做一個(gè)?’”

But Ms. Raleigh’s new hobby is not as odd or macabre as some of her friends might think. In fact, there’s a historical precedent, said Brian Schmidt, a taxidermist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

但是羅利的新愛好并不像她有些朋友所想的那么怪異，或者恐怖。事實(shí)上，據(jù)就職于華盛頓史密森學(xué)會(huì)(Smithsonian Institution)的標(biāo)本制作師布萊恩·施密特(Brian Schmidt)說(shuō)，這在歷史上是有先例的。

“Back in Victorian times, people, especially women, used to do a lot of taxidermy, putting it under glass domes or in quilts,” Mr. Schmidt said. “So I guess we’ve come full circle.”

“早在維多利亞時(shí)代，人們(尤其是女人)就曾制作過(guò)大量標(biāo)本，把它們放進(jìn)鐘形玻璃罩，或收藏在被單下面。”施密特說(shuō)，“所以我猜，我們又回到了原點(diǎn)。”

Then and now, part of the appeal may be the illusion of cheating death, said Margot Magpie, an instructor at an ethical taxidermy studio in London called Of Corpse!, who sometimes teaches at the Morbid Anatomy Museum.

無(wú)論在當(dāng)時(shí)還是現(xiàn)在，標(biāo)本的魅力或許部分在于，它給人一種雖死猶生的錯(cuò)覺。倫敦一家人道標(biāo)本剝制工作室Of Corpse!的培訓(xùn)師瑪格·“喜鵲”(Margot Magpie)如是說(shuō)。她偶爾也會(huì)在病理解剖博物館里授課。

“Making something that’s dead look alive again helps some people come to terms with death,” said Ms. Magpie, 31.

“讓死去的動(dòng)物看起來(lái)就像重獲新生，這樣做能夠幫助一些人接受死亡。”31歲的“喜鵲”說(shuō)。