“Cultural associations with animal trophies generally reinforce the idea that the animal is valued more in its death than in its life,” says Alessandra Expòsito, who is best known for her decoratively painted animal skulls and bones. Unlike those hung by hearths in hunting lodges, Expòsito’s skulls feature flowers and bucolic scenes of children, horses, and farm life, to “evoke more sentimental associations of loss,” she says. For example, Winter (2008) is a stark white horse skeleton with a fictional identity created by embellishing the animal’s frame with imagined scenes from its memory (the barnyard, baby birds, etc.) The work renders fragile and exposed an animal normally known for its power and regality. In Breaded for Destruction (2012) and Slaughterhouse Survivor (2013), Expòsito once again constructs fictional narratives, in this case memorializing and revering humble chickens.