Selkies as Love Interests

“Many stories revolve around female selkies. Human men sometimes stole their skin, forcing them to become their wives. If the selkie found her seal skin again, she’d regain her seal form and disappear into the waves. In other stories, the man knew nothing of his wife’s true nature. He’d wake one day to find her gone. She wouldn’t be able to see him again for seven years.

According to the legends, selkie women make excellent wives. Some stories have the selkies take their half-selkie children with them when they return to the sea. In others, they leave them behind, but visit them to play among the waves. ”

- Icy Sedgwick, Folklore Blogger

“When it comes to portraying the Selkie in 2021, we must begin to understand how their history and origin have shaped how they came to be perceived. In particular, female Selkies have been portrayed as objects of sexual desire and perfect wives for human men. Therefore, in many visual representations, the female Selkie is portrayed as gentle and demure, much like classic or renaissance era paintings portray nymphs and bathers.

So when director Fuoco Balduzzi and I came together to discuss our portrayal of the Selkie for the film Saltcoats, it was important for us to also highlight the eerie mystery of the Selkie, emphasising what is unknown to us about this creature. Does she have powers? Is she good or evil? Does she use her desirability to manipulate those on land? As Fuoco so beautifully puts it, we are working in ‘the dusk of reality’ – somewhere between real life and fantasy. I’d like to think that our version of the Selkie removes her coat to reveal a truer more authentic version of herself.”

Sarah Shaw, artist & makeup artist