Salmon Skin Umbrella

840mm x 700mm x 700mm.

12 British salmon skins, tanned with Suffolk & Somerset Willow bark tea made with bark from a tree over 30 years old, Cotton thread, 1960’s umbrella frame from Somerset and Buckskin trim.

A surprising object that we might firstly relate to as snake skin, another reptilian skin we commonly encounter. It creeks open to become fully inflated umbrella with a lone fish tail hanging from one of the edges.

The tanning process transformed seemingly fragile slimy fish skin into a resilient material.  An astringent willow bark tea soaks into the centre of the skin over several weeks and preserves and reinforces it to form into a protective shell as it is oiled and dries.

It holds a relationship between us and the landscape, selecting and creating a material that guards us from exposure to the outside world. Protecting from the migratory, genetic and circumstantial landscapes; British rain or the Indian sun.

The umbrella is one object as part of a group of objects looking at the nature of skin and belonging.