feathered piranha by julien salaud

‘vieux piraï emplumé’ by julien salaud

 french artist julien salaud is well known for his confronting taxidermic assemblages – using a ‘mixing and matching’ approach by combining various parts of animals. ‘vieux piraï emplumé’ could be considered the acme of this unusual craft, where salaud embeds budgerigar feathers into a specially preserved piranha – carefully arranging the plumage to reflect the original patterning along the fish. merging the features of flighted and subaqueous creatures, salaud has created the quintessential frankenfish – corroborating humankind’s ability to manipulate nature and remain at the top of the food chain.

the fish prior to intervention

beginning the ‘feathering’ process

the project corroborates humankind’s ability to manipulate nature and remain at the top of the food chain

the complete ‘piranha-bird’