A portrait of an artist immersed in his defining project. Taxidermist Ken Walker has an unshakable belief he'll find tru | dG1fUEYxcVR2QlFEZm8
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Short filmTranscript
00:00He took the taxidermy world by storm.
00:04People look at Ken as the Elvis Presley of taxidermy, if you will.
00:10Ken Walker of Alberta Beach, Canada, with the Wallabies.
00:15Taxidermy is the most difficult art form that man has ever devised.
00:23That's right, but you know what the funniest part is?
00:25It's all done by right-wingers who don't even believe in art
00:29and don't even know they're artists.
00:31Ken was always interested in animals.
00:34He was just a little guy walking around with a jar full of bugs.
00:38When I was in grade 3 or 4 or something, I wrote a story about Bigfoot.
00:48The thing that I find most frustrating about it is I know the creature is real.
00:54I am convinced, and I'm going to go one step further and build a model.
01:01I got a call from the New York Times.
01:04The first thing they asked was, have you seen the Sasquatch yet?
01:08And could we interview Ken Walker?
01:12This is an easy thing to do because what's it going to look like when it's done?
01:15Is it going to look like Snuffleupagus?
01:17Half the people don't believe this thing exists anyway,
01:20so they're going to think that I'm just being creepy.
01:23You know, some people are afraid of sharks.
01:25Some people are afraid of spiders.
01:27Upstanding, normal people are terrified of ridicule.
01:32Yes, yes, yes.
01:36I am not a surgeon. I am an artist.
01:40For this model to be successful is for somebody to be able to come over and say,
01:44man, I didn't think I'd see her again.
01:46I think this gives a face to Sasquatch. It's the closest thing people have.
01:51There might be somebody one day that walks up and sees that model
01:55and decides to give me what's in his freezer.
01:58That is my ultimate goal.