It’s interesting how completely different things dovetail sometimes. New Zealand artist Bruce Mahalski, said in 2018: “Some religious people revere human life above all others but I think this ‘species-ist’ attitude is at the root of a lot of our current problems”. Timothy Morton uses Object Oriented Ontology to promote new attitudes towards conservation, citing anthropocentric behaviour as harmful. Mahalski, who works in bone, said, “We can’t go on writing off large chunks of the biota (insects and fish are classic examples) simply because we don’t find them physically attractive!” One assumes the two would get along famously.

Mahalski has been collecting bones since he was about eight years old, and is therefore a useful source of advice for artists considering working with bone themselves. Like Jennifer Trask, Mahalski sees nothing morbid or depressing in bones. He respects his materials, and ensures that each artifact has appropriate documentation if sourced elsewhere. There is a distasteful market in the remains of humans or exotic animals, although common sense and CITES certification from a reliable source takes care of many problems. The human skull used for his piece Sacred was given by an acquaintance clearing the home of an elderly relative – its provenance unknown. I have a skeletal human hand and various small bones given by a friend whose father lectured in medicine when genuine skeletons were used in classrooms. Mahalski feels, and I concur, that there is no difference between the species. What matters are the intentions of the artist. “I know I am an animal,” says Mahalski, “The challenge is to be a better one.”

When it came to creating artifacts for the Museum of Post-apocalyptic Evolution, bone was a logical choice. In his 2014 book The Knowledge: How to Rebuild our World After an Apocalypse, Louis Dartnell points out that although we seem to be awash in a tide of material, much would be destroyed, and survivors would be unable to acquire goods easily. Even plastics would be difficult to source after only three years. So bone could be one of the hardest, most durable materials to hand. It has been used in three ways – to make tools, to show a societal shift, and to build the skull of a mutated creature.

In each case, friends with large dogs willingly parted with bones once canine friends had finished with them. These are chunky, thick columns around 20cm long, the bone itself up to 10mm thick. The dogs ensured that little tissue remained on the bones, and no marrow within them, which made it a lot easier to cure them.  Previously, I had cleaned and cured bone simply by burying it for a few months, depending on the size of the item. This time, lack of a garden left simmering as the best option. Simmering, never boiling as this can cause cracks or worse, lead to fat permeating the bone, only to emerge unexpectedly as a greasy stench. Hydrogen peroxide is considered best for whitening bones, but this was not a concern as they needed a more natural look. Chlorine bleach will make bone porous and flaky, eventually destroying it. It does, however, soften the bone for easier hand-carving, as seen in the Healers Necklet. The bones used in the knives were simply simmered for an evening in a pot of warm water with about half a cup of dishwashing liquid. This softened up the last strands of tissue, and prevented the concoction stinking. Drying bone takes ages, and they sat on pads of paper on the windowsill for about a week.

Always use mask and gloves when working with bone, particularly when sanding it.