Julie Dermansky: Adventures in Natural History Museums..

One thing that makes photography such an interesting medium is that it documents and captures something real. Whether the subject is found accidentally or constructed artifically (see the amazing Cindy Sherman), it happened.

So how great is it to find a photographer who is not only making beautiful images, but is also documenting something important and fascinating?

Enter Julie Dermansky, an artist across a range of media, but best by far at photography. Some of her photo sets interest me more than others, but just take a moment to enjoy my personal favourite - Natural History Museums around the World.


Clockwise from top left:
Elephant Fetus - Kruger National Park's Elephant Museum In South Africa
Ethiopian Hyena: Natural History Museum in Addis Ababa
Giant Squid: Capetown's natural history museum
Desert Landscape: Former display in Las Vegas' Natural History Museum
Bird with nut in mouth: Pretoria's Transval Museum
Ape: Capetown’s NH Museum


Not impressed? Well how about when she explored the storage rooms at the Everhart Museum of Science and Art in Scranton PA , and found a muthafucking BOX OF WEASELS. Yes, you heard that right - A BOX OF WEASELS PEOPLE. Have mercy.


Holy crap! It's a box of weasels! Insert joke about lawyers at a baseball game here.

Or how about you get ready for your head to blow off, when you see what she found in Pretoria, South Africa. Only maybe the greatest piece of taxidermy ever performed. The creativity! The artist's touch! Manifique!


Leopard, Transval Museum. Eating the... eyes... of a... seriously though, the eyes?!?

She has a lot of great stuff on her site, including a series called Mankind’s Monuments to Barbaric Act and Other Unusual Vacation Destinations, in which she visits and documents places like genocide museums in Rwanda and Apartheid museums in South Africa.

Amazing, amazing stuff.