The Financial Times has a strangely moving story about a man whose mission it is to stuff very small and unremarkable fish.
I started my taxidermy business when I was 22 and I struggled to earn a living for 12 years, partly because of the cost of equipment. I also started doing drugs. I thought of myself as an artist who needed that high to be inspired. My skills improved, and I won the World Championship for fish taxidermy in 2003. But at the same time, my problems grew bigger.
I got to the point where I had to quit taxidermy. I felt like I had lost everything, but actually, this was a necessary step. I found Jesus and started to work as a precision mechanic. I fell in love and got married. I was convinced that I would never work as a taxidermist again when, last year, I had an inspiration from God. He gave me the feeling that it is time to restart.
It’s hard to earn a living with this job, but I hope the title I won in February will help – I was named best fish taxidermist at the World Taxidermy Championship in Salzburg. I put two months of work into my exhibit, which was a 9cm European bullhead. The judges were particularly impressed by the fin, which is 0.1mm thick. One even called me the “Mozart of taxidermy”.