Make your own seal fur bikini.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity (unless you are planning to go to Greenland).
Mediamatic brought a few seal fur skins from Copenhagen. These skins are a left-over product of the seal meat the Inuit eat.
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Image taken from Jerry Ohlinger's Movie Material Store -
Picture found on photos.bravenet.com.
Nieuw
Jans
Anya
ElineWorkshop set-up
Since our climate is not the same as in Greenland we don't need anoraks. What we do need is a bikinis!
The morning starts with a 45 minute presentation about seal fur and leather by Els de Meijer.
Els is an artist who lived in Greenland for a while. She knows a lot about the Inuit culture and their sewing techniques and she will tell us all about it.
After the presentation we will start designing and sewing the bikini's with fashion designer Nieuw Jurk and Els. The rest of the afternoon will be filled with sewing, chatting and drinking tea.
Note: The seal fur is a very important means of income for the Inuit. They eat the meat and sell the fur. Because of the European ban on the trade of seal products, they are now stuck with warehouses full of it. As a member of the Bardot Proviant Klub it's legal to eat sealmeat and use fur for our workshops.
Workshop report
The day started with a very nice and informative presentation of Els de Meijer.
Els lived in Greenland for a year and learned everything about the use of sealskins and fur. She witnessed the real traditional way of making the skin, from the skinning of the animal till the final result.
The seal has a very big layer if fat, it's quite an art to cut the skin as close as possible without having lots of blubber to remove afterwards. Once the skin is taken they use a special tool to remove the fat and flesh completely.
Then they leave the skins for drying a short while. After that they have to harness the skin to stretch it.
It's quite a procedure, you can see everything from step by step in the presentation of Els de Meijer, attached to this page shortly.
Contributions
DeborahComments (4)
Comments (4)
Vera
Sabine
Martin
Anna
Elena
Gewoon
Anne
Mar
Sara
Tanja
Willem
Joris
Paul
Lilian
Krystian
The bikini looks hot & That's all that matters!
Westeners don't get a choice about being exposed to the sqeamishness. We are domesticated, made safe... fed what the market deems best
Battering baby seals to death for a whim is distatseful- but pales into insignificance compared to the human crimes against our farm animals.
Whilst our domesticity might be our own bland cage it is a luxury not to have to kill to live- but that could be had by merely eating vegetarian.
hmmm Hi Vera!
Double standard?
Isn't this more about the very common double standard of Westerners eating and wearing animal meat and skin without wanting to have anything to do with it's origins? Hunting, killing, cleaning, processing, putting every part of an animal to good use.. We are to squeamish for all of that nowadays.
I think it's good to question our morale on this one, and I appreciate the use of fur that has not been derived from seals slaughtered solely for their skin to be sold to the Western world.
About the fur...
The seal fur is a very important means of income for the Inuit. They eat the meat and sell the fur. Because of the European ban on the trade of seal products, they are now stuck with warehouses full of it...
The bikini workshop is not about creating a media circus, but about using the fur in a fun way, while at the same time learning more about seal fur and the Greenlandic techniques for making clothes.
double standards
In the mood for a debate?
I think this project is measuring with double standards. Working with the fur although it's a 'Left over', creates a demand for this product, this left over should be kept by the Inuit themselves, I think.
And on top of that, making a bikini is a very bad taste of humor and a bad sense for ethics. For me it tastes like the curator wants to create an easy media circus over the skin of the seal, in his hunger for attention. Here the meduim doesn't stand in balance with the goal, which a I hope is an ecological awareness and an open and responsible mind and acting.