Unlikely material behind Whitsundays artist's fashion collection
In the front yard of her home in the picturesque Whitsundays, Felicity Chapman strips the last pieces of flesh and sinew from a strip of barramundi skin to make wearable leather art.
Felicity Chapman is an Aboriginal weaver and textile artist based in the Whitsundays. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
In the front yard of her home, nestled in the picturesque Whitsundays, Felicity Chapman strips the last pieces of flesh and sinew from a strip of barramundi skin.
"You want to keep the tension really tight, otherwise it just tears," Ms Chapman said.
Felicity Chapman has found that different fish skins require different handling. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
Swapping between a large-handled knife and a scalpel for the more precise work, she uses a process learned entirely through trial and error.
"I work with fish skins that are destined for the garbage bin," she said.
Felicity Chapman spends about an hour preparing each skin. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
Ms Chapman also uses barramundi scales to create dance overskirts, headdresses and jewellery.
A headdress designed by Felicity Chapman using barramundi scales. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
The meticulous work will feature at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair as part of her collection "Skintight", which includes tops, skirts and pants made from fish, kangaroo and crocodile leather.
When the idea first came to Ms Chapman, she had no way to transform the skins into a usable material.
Felicity Chapman shows how removing the scales from the skin leaves it more pliable. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
"I know that there was preservation [among] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for kangaroo skins, possum skins, but I couldn't find anything particularly for fish skins," she said.
As a woman, using the tanning techniques unique to the Ngaro people in the Whitsundays would have been a breach of cultural law.
The Whitsundays are the traditional lands of the Ngaro people. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
Instead, Ms Chapman drew inspiration from First Nations communities in the Northern Hemisphere, adapting techniques for north Queensland's humid climate.
"My parents didn't allow us to be brought up with our culture. There was a lot of fear about being the next stolen generation.
Ms Chapman sources her raw materials from a fish market in nearby Airlie Beach, run by Callum Patience.
"It was a random one. Felicity came in one day, and she wanted to know if fish skins were available," Mr Patience said.
Callum Patience, manager at FISHI, gives Ms Chapman barramundi skins. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)
Even though the market tries to use any off-cuts, he said between 20 and 30 kilograms of skins would be thrown away each day.
Fish skin and carcass was
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