Quite a while ago I visited Christel 's workplace . A magical place. She brings birds to life. Christel is a taxidermist. I was allowed to draw her workplace. She now lives with her dear Willem in another, even more beautiful studio. They founded The Breathless Zoo in a small village near Den Bosch . Here birds literally get a second life and fly out to enthusiasts all over the world.
She has been granted what many people fail to do: Christel sees beauty in what is no longer there. She breathes new life into dead birds with her works of art. When they can no longer do it themselves, Christel gives them another flight. killed with one stone, dead as a dodo, one in your hand.. then you take them to Christel. She keeps them in one of her large freezers. There the birds silently sing their time until Christel releases her magic on it.
"My first word was 'bird', so it's no surprise that this sparked a lifelong passion for these colorful, flying and intelligent creatures."— Christel van Ommen - Verdaasdonk
It wouldn't have mattered much if her name had been 'Merel' (Dutch for 'blackbird'). Although you may wonder why this symbiosis has been withheld from her, the comparison with this noisy bird would not hold.
