The Afterlifes of Natural History - Images by Denis Defibaugh

The Labrador duck, the great auk and the passenger pigeon—they are long gone, extinct for well over a century. The Afterlife’s of Natural History project focuses on critically endangered and vanished birds, mammals and extinct species that are housed in collections of museums, science centers, and labs. I train my 4x5 view camera lens on these zoological specimens across the country, bringing them to a new, eerily beautiful afterlife, hoping to call attention to their plight and sound a warning about the ongoing demise of many species. 

The specimens are beautiful to look at, finely crafted art, as well as a historical artifact that reminds us how fragile life is. My exploration is a quest in the spirit of the great naturalists. Painter-ornithologist John James Audubon is the most important influence and reference. The film that I use is obsolete and no longer manufactured. Being unprocessed following exposure, the film is in constant oxidation and will eventually become a black sheet of film. The use of this unprocessed Polaroid film is used to photograph the specimen suggests a unity with the objects. These prints are made from scans during the negative’s deterioration process. As technology lead to the end of Polaroid film, there are many reasons for the extinction of a species. Human encroachment, climate change, and environmental or habitat change are historically some of the primary causes that have led to the demise of a species.

Denis Defibaugh is Professor Emeritus, School of Photography, Rochester Institute of Technology.