The Artist
My name is Tyler-Jane Neal, and I love dead things.
I’m a Bachelor of Animal Science graduate (UNE), mental health and disability support company director, current law student (CSU), and forensic science master’s candidate (WSU). I also volunteer with my local community legal service, where I advocate for those who often fall through society’s cracks. Across each of these roles runs a common thread: a deep respect for life in all its forms, and a reverence for the delicate threshold between life and death.
Taxidermy, for me, is more than a craft. It is a quiet ritual of honouring—an artful act of preservation that gives animals and insects a kind of “forever life.” My approach blends scientific knowledge with artistic sensibility, informed by my academic background in zoology, pathology, entomology, and forensic study. I have a particular affinity for the unloved and overlooked—creatures with bad reputations or small stories that often go untold.
When I’m not elbow-deep in a project, you’ll find me in the bush or beneath the trees, flipping logs to greet the bugs below—drawn as always to the beautiful remains.
“This is more than preservation—it’s a love letter to life, even in death.”
1 believe we are learning forever and that time spent learning is never time wasted. I am currently completing a Master's Degree in Forensic Science with WSU, where my main research focus is on dermestid beetles.
Dermestid beetles are flesh-eating insects commonly used in both forensic science and laxidermy to clean bones. These beetles feed on decaying organic matter, making them ideal for carefully removing soft tissue from skeletal remains without damaging delicate bone structures. In forensic science, dermestid colonies are offen used to prepare bones for anthropological analysis, particularly in cases where human
Or animal remains are
decomposed. Their work allows forensic experts to examine trauma.
pathology, or other
identifying features of skeletal remains with precision and minimal interference.
At our workshop, I maintain a large colony of dermestid beetles. All bones used in our work are processed using our own dermestid beetles. which is the most gentle and effective method, perfectly preserving skeletal specimens for articulation or mounting.
