Antoinette Ratcliffe completed her Master of Arts at The School of Media Arts (Wintec) in 2011. She began learning taxidermy in 2015, and introduced the media into her artwork the following year. Her practice explores anthropomorphic association using a variety of media, including her own taxidermy, where the animals find themselves in relationships created out of circumstance.

All animals in her work are ethically sourced, either through failed rehabilitation efforts, humanely euthanised donations, or trapping communities protecting our native wildlife. No animal was killed with the specific intention to produce this artwork.

Antoinette has attended workshops taken by World Taxidermy Championship award winners Mike Orthober, Dale Manning, and Wendy Christensen. She also trained with Peter Wells of Wildmount Taxidermy, and attended online tuition with Allis Markham of Prey Taxidermy.  

She has taxidermy pieces in collections held by NZ Bird Society, Upper Hutt Predator Free Trust, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, North Otago Museum, Owhango Alive, Northland Regional Council, Wētā, Ruahine Kiwi, Whangarei Regional Council, Predator Free Wellington, and in private collections around the world. Her taxidermy is also available at Brown & Co, Covenant, Flora Fauna, and now The Arts Hole. 

Along with being a taxidermy artist, Antoinette was also a speaker at TEDxPipitea, presenting her talk ‘What’s so ethical about ethical taxidermy’ in 2021, and works on taxidermy pieces in an art conservator role for collectors and museums in New Zealand.