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Gruesome shadow art transforms garbage and mummified rats into severed heads

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Sculptors Tim Noble and Sue Webster use metal scraps, taxidermied animals, and other detritus to create immensely foreboding scenes hidden within unassuming silhouettes. For example, that sculpture at top — British Wildlife (2000) — consists of "88 taxidermy animals; 46 birds (35 varieties), 40 mammals (18 varieties), [and] 2 fish." Another silhouette piece transforms synthetic sex organs into lopped-off heads (NSFW). The designers admit that their artwork possesses a Rorschach-like quality:

Tim Noble and Sue Webster take ordinary things including rubbish, to make assemblages and then point light to create projected shadows which show a great likeness to something identifiable including self-portraits. The art of projection is emblematic of transformative art. The process of transformation, from discarded waste, scrap metal or even taxidermy creatures to a recognizable image, echoes the idea of 'perceptual psychology' a form of evaluation used for psychological patients. Noble and Webster are familiar with this process and how people evaluate abstract forms.

Many of these forms are not Ned Stark-approved. Here's a sampling of the duo's semi-dystopic shadows:

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The Gamekeeper's Gibbet (2011)

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Dark Stuff (2008), which is made of "189 mummified animals (67 field mice, 5 adult rats, 42 juvenile rats, 44 garden shrews, 1 fox, 1 squirrel, 1 weasel, 13 carrion crows, 7 jackdaws, 1 blackbird, 1 sparrow, 1 robin, 1 toad, 1 gecko, 3 garden snail shells." Here's an interview with the British Museum about this piece.

Metal Rats Fucking (2006)

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Falling Apart (2001)

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Miss Understood and Mr. Meanor (1997)

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The Original Sinners (2000), which is made of fake fruit.

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A Hole (2005)

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Kiss of Death (2003), "34 taxidermy animals (6 rats, 1 mink, 8 carrion crows, 8 rooks, 11 jackdaws)."

You can see more shadow silhouettes at Webster and Noble's website.

[Via My Modern Met]