There's something about this that's so peaceful.

I read the story about the millions of poor wee fish getting caught in the harbor in California after getting confused and not being able to get back out. Turns out they suffocating because there was so many of them and not enough oxygen in the water for them to breath. Every since then I can't stop looking at pictures of it, it's so fascinating they just look so peaceful floating in the water you almost forget they're dead.

 

Then I  just started looking at other images of animals in formaldehyde. A little disturbing I know but they are so calming to look at just floating so peacefully.

I came across work by British artist Damien Hirst. I'd seen previously a little of his work in news paper articles, mainly the cow and calf preserved in formaldehyde which were displayed in London.

Below are some pictures of a tiger shark preserved by Hirst in the 90's.

The work is entitled "The Physical Impossibility of the Death in the Mind of Someone Living"

As the shark was poorly preserved in the beginning they had to re-do it by stretching the skin of the shark over a fiberglass mould and replacing it in the casing. This made the shark look less realistic as there was no weight or flexibility in the structure.

The cow and calf were dissected and placed into two separate containers each allowing you to walk between them. 

While looking around the internet for other pieces of work I came across this image.

Initially even I was shocked by this but when you look at it for a while it just seems so calming. As if the monkey is merely sleeping.

I'm not completely crazy. Death and such don't interest me in any real way. I just had some thoughts on this because it didn't provoke the reaction I expected from myself. It doesn't mean I'm going to go around pickling my pets so they can live on forever...

Stare at these images for a while. Do you feel the same way about them now? Is this how you expected you would react? Let me know.