The Wolf Skin - A Pele do Lobo

Text: Ana Rita de Albuquerque
Photography: Miguel Barbot e Alice Bernardo

A Pele do Lobo/ The Wolf Skin is a series I'm creating at my studio about the fleeces of Portuguese native sheep breeds. It started with a gentle approach to this animal's raw material. On the one hand, Pele do Lobo is a declaration of care and love to the origin, made with a specific technique observing the manufacturing rhythms. On the other hand, it is an artistic concept. This order is a perfect circle where the human context gives value to the material's provenience. This provenience responds by transforming itself into an artwork.

All the final pieces result from an extensive collaborative process, which starts with the shepherd and goes through the shearing and wool selection, transforming into the artwork until it rests in its last habitat.

This work is like a collaborative chain. One of the first chainlinks is Saber Fazer, which provides the fleeces from which I select those to be a 'Pele do Lobo'. One of the last is Ofício, a promotor of eloquent products that wanted these pieces to be part of their catalogue.

Everything starts with attention to animal welfare, from breeding to general health: happy sheep provide the best wool. The fleeces were sheared by Marty and selected by Alice in a shearing organized by Saber Fazer. Alice chose the wool considering how it looked and the suitability to be felted.

The fleeces I like to felt are naturally less attractive to the wool industry. These are from "Churra" sheep, with long, thick and rustic fibres. They are a noble leftover: the wool rejected by the industry usually is buried, burned or thrown away.

The fleece is felted, keeping in place the animal's natural features. It is structured inside, and everything is held in place by a felted and embroidered membrane. It is a sheepskin that is not skin, suitable for wolfs that can't kill everything they want.

Pele do Lobo is handmade by Ana Rita de Albuquerque.