Brooklyn-based artist Jamie Roadkill creates 24-karat gold gilded anatomically accurate skeletons made from animals who have been killed on roadways. After collecting and processing the animals, this artist weaves sculptural scenes which comment on humanity’s lust for progress and bring into question the nature of ‘progress’ as history has defined it. Her choice of source material is symbolic of the hypocrisy in the human tendency to label other living creatures as “vermin” while being the most overpopulated, burdening species on earth. The artist uses 24-karat gold to gild the articulated skeletons as a means of restoring evident value to that which would have otherwise been discarded as common trash.

Inspired by the rich bodies of work of Jessica Joslin, Paul Koudounaris, Sarina Brewer, and Peter Beard, Jamie Roadkill reimagines a world where humans aren’t the only ones who have a say in decisions regarding the life and death of other species. Her work promotes necessary dialogue on life’s natural course and the social prejudice projected on death, asking us to place a question mark at the end of our long-held ideas about death.

Her first solo exhibition, Intersections, is on view at Gallery 151 in New York City through January 1st. For more information, visit gallery151.com