12/23/2024

Chicago - The Insect Asylum

2024 is almost over. I've been back from Chicago for 2 months. And still I haven't finished posting pictures. Oops.

(content warning for taxidermy bugs and animals)

This is a visit to a lil place called The Insect Asylum. It's a small space that has a ton of animals and animal skins packed into a small space. Most of the animals were lizards and bugs in terrariums (including a sassy iguana named Rosie), but there were also two birds, and an Opossum!

The poss was sleepy and behind some fabric but the handler graciously gave it a piece of apple so we could see it for a short moment before she trundled back to sleep. Relatable.

Photos

A photo of the outside of The Insect Asylum in Chicago. A red neon sign spells out the name, under neat a large picture of a butterfly. In the window are various plants, a broken apart skull, and a painting of an opossum covered in small plant shoots. — (Size: 2252x4000 - 2.99MB) click for full

A photo of taxidermied moths. — (Size: 2252x4000 - 1.92MB) click for full

A display of several taxidermied blue butterflies. In the center is a painting of a horned woman wearing black lipstick, with yellow and red eyes. The painting is by Angela Bachman, titled 'SHE DEVIL' — (Size: 4000x2252 - 2.09MB) click for full

A display case of various taxidermied beetles — (Size: 4000x2252 - 2.89MB) click for full

A photo of a taxidermy fox, in a laying position on some faux grass. On its back feet are some taxidermy orange butterflies. A handwritten sign in front of the fox reads 'Please dont touch me I'm very fragile and WILL cry :(' — (Size: 4000x2252 - 3.81MB) click for full

A taxidermy fox standing on a log. In front of it is a jar full of wilted roses, and the wall is govered in a green-brown moss interspersed with 45 records. — (Size: 4000x2252 - 3.48MB) click for full

A display case of taxidermy mantises and walking stickes, along with a spider. — (Size: 4000x2252 - 2.57MB) click for full

Two crocheted stuffed animal opossums, one is much smaller and riding on the back of the larger one. — (Size: 4000x2252 - 2.78MB) click for full

A wooden wall hanging, shaped like the moon. Attached to the moon is a staircase, and at the foot of the stairs are a bunch of white and purple plants. The piece is labeled 'HORROR FLORAL Facebook: horrorfloral @horrorfloral' — (Size: 2252x4000 - 2.25MB) click for full

A stringed instrument (guitar?) attached to a wall, which a taxidermy mouse climbing on the tuning pegs. A fluffy tail sticks out of the hole in the body of the instrument. — (Size: 2252x4000 - 2.01MB) click for full

A painting of a snake skeleton intertwined with a living snake, in front of a gray sky. The canvas is square, but turned slightly to appear like a diamond shape. — (Size: 4000x2252 - 2.72MB) click for full

A small sign outside a large display case, labeled 'OPAL / West Virginia Opossum / Didelphis Virginiana / (dye-DEL-dis) (vir-jin-ee-AY-nuh).' The sign also has a picture of Opal. Below the sign is an info card with facts about opossums. — (Size: 2252x4000 - 2.36MB) click for full

A blurry photo of Opal the opossum, sticking her head out from behind a star-patterened fabric. A museum worker's hand is extended toward Opal from the right of frame. Opal is looking off to the left. — (Size: 4000x2252 - 1.73MB) click for full

Videos

(Embed below is a playlist hosted on Youtube, via youtube-nocookie)