Historic and contemporary influences

Many if the Inuit tribes used to used dried internal organs like the gut of seals and other large mammals to make these watertight garments.

This parka is made from seal intestines, cloth, thread and grass.

seeing these traditional garments helped me to consider using internal organs as a material, I have dried out some natural sausage casings and started seeing what I could create with them.

Julia Lohmann

lamps made from preserved sheep stomachs

Julia Lohmann uses a material that most people find disgusting to think about or to touch, but surly this is just another by-product of an animal, similar to leather and fur. She uses light to illuminate the dimpled surface of the material.

Sari Liimatta

Sari Liimatta's work shows the symbolism, beliefs and expectations surrounding animals in our society and how they are also connected with our industrial materials.

The way she has adorned these toys with beautiful materials but in a destructive manner shows how we treat animals in our society.

Looking at her work made me want to combine a material that we as a western society see as precious e.g. pearls with the internal organs of an animal which the Yup'ik people would view as a precious material.