London artist Polly Morgan says a love of animals and desire to preserve them led her to learn taxidermy, under the tutelage of taxidermist George Jamieson.

Since then, Polly has been making still lives with animals as subjects in her work. She often depicts the creatures in unnatural and unexpected scenery in the hopes that by seeing the animals out of place, the viewer is encouraged to look at them as though for the first time. A rat, she offers, sheds its association with horror and disease and can be viewed as a beautiful animal.