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.

Antoinette's practice explores anthropomorphic association using a variety of media, including her own taxidermy, where the animals find themselves in relationships created out of circumstance. She only uses ethically sourced animals for her taxidermy pieces, installations, and photographs.

​The concepts of memento mori continue to influence her current body of work, giving the pieces an awareness of a quiet and sometimes sinister suspense, while maintaining a whimsical aesthetic.

Antoinette is a member of the Australasian Institute of Anatomical Sciences, and has been a member of the New Zealand Taxidermy Association since 2015, attending workshops taken by World Taxidermy Championship award winners Mike Orthober, Dale Manning, and Wendy Christensen. She also trained with Pete Wells of Wildmount Taxidermy in 2018.  In 2021 she attended online tuition with Allis Markham of Prey Taxidermy, and presented her talk 'What's so ethical about ethical taxidermy' at TEDxPipitea.

She has taxidermy pieces in collections held by NZ Bird Society (Auckland), Upper Hutt Predator Free Trust, Zealandia, North Otago Museum, and in many private collections around the world. Her pieces are also available at Brown & Co Wellington and Flora Fauna Queenstown.

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