Pro surfer Felicity Palmateer strips off for nude surfing safari

She’s conquered some of the world’s biggest and meanest waves and now Gold Coast surfer Felicity Palmateer has taken on her fears.

She’s fearlessly conquered some of the world’s biggest and meanest waves - and now also her fear of surfing naked.

Gold Coast professional big wave surfer and artist Felicity Palmateer has just released a ‘avante garde’ new short film, Skin Deep, in which she surfs remote exotic spots around the world sans bikini and wetsuit.

Felicity Palmateer has released an ‘avante garde’ new short film, Skin Deep.

Palmateer says what began as ‘a rather simple yet scary and exciting idea’ to go on a nude surfing safari became a ‘cathartic, beautiful and challenging’ journey of self-discovery.

“The process was incredibly empowering,’ she said.

“By embracing my femininity it helped immensely with my self-esteem and self acceptance.”

“The ocean has been my playground, it has shaped my life since I was young; as has art.”

“I use both surfing and art as forms of meditation, motivation and as escapism. I feel most comfortable when I’m either in the water surfing, or creating.”

“To be able to intertwine art and surfing in such an intimate way in a project like Skin Deep has been so satisfying.”

The big wave surfer travelled to remote locations for the film. Picture: Supplied

The Skin Deep project, conceptualised by Palmateer and brought to life with the help of a small team of professional film makers, has been three years in the pipeline.

Locations include Fiji, Hawaii, the south and northwest coasts of Western Australia and northern NSW.

State-of the-art cameras were used to capture many of Skin Deep’s most hypnotic moments and hours of drone aerial footage were accumulated, then edited to the resulting four-minutes of captivating vision.

Felicity Palmateer in Skin Deep. Picture: Supplied

Skin Deep producer and Palmateer’s partner, Johnathan “JJ” Jenkins, said it was a ‘very tricky’ production, as many of the surf spots were popular and the nude surfing sessions needed to be filmed in secrecy.

“It was essential we sort trusted, professional operators,” he said.

“Not only to ensure Felicity could feel comfortable performing, but so that we could travel discreetly to particularly special areas and avoid people, other cameras and crowds.”

The film took three years to make. Picture: Supplied

Cinematographers included Gold Coaster Dwayne Fetch, who has worked on productions including The Shallows starring Blake Lively, the Logie nominated ABC TV Series Harrow, and Netflix’s Tidelands.

The title “Skin Deep” was chosen by Palmateer, who says it was ‘at once intended to be provocative, while simultaneously challenging notions to do with beauty’.

The film’s accompanying music track is the recently released “No Place” by Australian group RÜFÜS DU SOL.

Skin Deep is being distributed through video sharing and hosting platform Vimeo.