How a Taxidermist Spends Sundays

Growing up in a cramped Miami apartment, Divya Anantharaman would spend hours perched by the kitchen window, gazing at the birds passing by.

Nature was mesmerizing, but zoo tickets were expensive, so Mx. Anantharaman, who uses the pronouns they and she, would frequent free museum days, gawking at the dioramas filled with creatures — owls, elephants, tigers — they’d never before seen in real life.

Mx. Anantharaman moved to New York City in 2001. A few years later, while working in fashion, they started taking taxidermy classes. The barrier to entry seemed high. “Taxidermy is a very homogeneous field. It’s very, very white and very, very straight,” they said. “I’m not either of those things.”

They opened Gotham Taxidermy in 2015, determined to diversify the field. The business is based in a studio near Green-Wood Cemetery, where they offer workshops and create taxidermy pieces for private and corporate clients, including Tiffany-blue butterflies for a Tiffany & Company ad campaign and replica flamingos for the actors Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka.

Mx. Anantharaman sees the art form as a way to help people connect with nature, to experience “that moment of stillness, of vulnerability and enchantment” — even in an urban environment.

Taxidermy “shows you that bodies are not fixed and finite — they’re very liminal,” they said. “Bodies can really be whatever you want them to be.” Mx. Anantharaman, 40, lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn, with their partner and four cats: Fugazi, Garfield, Mani and Junior.

MEOW I’m usually woken up by my cats before my alarm goes off. My tiniest cat, Mani, sleeps on the pillow next to my head. By 7:30 a.m., she starts stretching and wakes me up. It really sets the rhythm of the day.

SOMETHING SWEET I’m a fruit person, so I’ll have a bowl of berries or mango or papaya, depending on the season. Sometimes I’ll go for brunch in my neighborhood at Zanmi, a Haitian restaurant, or Purple Yam, which is Filipino fusion. I always get ukoy, this shrimp and vegetable fritter.

FOR THE VIEWS Green-Wood Cemetery is one of my all-time favorite places. I like going early because it’s the best time for birding. You can walk up Battle Hill and see the tombstones opening up onto the city skyline. I love the simultaneous existence of all these things: the loud stuff and the quiet stuff, the green stuff and the gray stuff. It reminds me of why I love living in New York City.

TEACHING TAXIDERMY At least one weekend a month, I’ll teach a taxidermy class in my studio in Greenwood. They’re usually four people — never too big. I want to give everyone attention. We’ll make English sparrows or European starlings, butterflies or insect dioramas. Sometimes people are like, “It must suck that you work on the weekend.” But it doesn’t. Not when you’re sharing something you love. It’s really cool to give people that dose of nature in the city.

CITY CHICKS If I’m not doing taxidermy, Sunday is my go-to beach day. I volunteer with a group called NYC Plover Project on Fort Tilden and Breezy Point Tip beaches. We help protect the piping plover chicks because their first few weeks of life are so delicate. The best part is showing people the chicks through my binoculars, because a lot of people can’t see them. They’re the size of a cotton ball when they hatch. The average New Yorker probably has no idea that these endangered birds are nesting in the city.

ENDANGERED PLACES Afterward, I’ll go to Riis Beach. It’s only about a mile away from where the shorebirds nest, but it’s so different. I remember the first time I went thinking it was so different from the beaches I had grown up with in Miami, where you had to look perfect and be wearing the right bathing suit. At Riis, I felt at home. The beach has been a beacon for the queer community for generations, but a lot of folks are worried about its future. An abandoned hospital is being demolished, and people are worried about what will replace it.

GLAM O’CLOCK Around 6 o’clock, I’ll get my nails done. Sometimes I’ll go to Noir, a small locally owned business in Flatbush. Or I’ll go to The Pointed Nail, which is a really cool nail art studio in between Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg. People often think of anything that’s “femme” as frivolous, but it’s really not. It can be armor. My hands are such a big part of my livelihood, so getting that hand massage and pampering feels really important.

SUNDAY IS THE NEW SATURDAY Sunday is a fun night to go out because not a lot of people are out. There’s a bar called Ginger’s that’s really cool — it’s one of the few queer women’s spaces in New York City. There’s also a place called Good Judy that has pretty fun drag shows. But I don’t go out as much as I did when I was younger. In the colder months, I usually stay in, admiring my new nails. I’ll eat an edible and order takeaway from Debe Kitchen, a roti place that specializes in Indo-Caribbean food.

BLUE NIGHTS I usually start winding down around 10:30 p.m. with a tea. I’m really into anything herbal. Chamomile is my go-to. Or butterfly pea flower — it’s blue and it makes me think of bedtime. The last thing I’ll have is a CBD gummy. I’ll give the cats a snack, get into bed and fall asleep.

Sunday Routine readers can follow Divya Anantharaman on Instagram at @gotham_taxidermy.