MMy first foray into basket making started innocently enough. I found the kit at a craft fair. It consisted of nothing more than a needle, a folded instruction page, and a wad of raffia dyed a fuzzy blue-grey. The photo on the front of the box showed a woven pot containing a rubbery succulent. The instructions were simple, and I soon found myself in a methodical rhythm, the coils of raffia slowly stretching, bending, and shaping beneath my fingers.
All of this was before I spoke to Kathy Leatham, a weaver in Taungurung. I think the question is how many people are willing to learn a craft as old as basket making under 21st century capitalism. But as I talked with Leatham, I began to wonder if there was a more thoughtful approach.
As we speak, Leatham is in Darwin for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, and some of her art has been shortlisted for the award. There, too, she weaves every day. “I sit wearing little grass and raffia and little bone needles.” [and weave]. I can’t stop,” she tells me. “I just step in and listen. And I can connect wherever I am.”
Leatham’s weavings are not just personal, they are cultural and sacred. Over the years, she has been taught by other Aboriginal artists such as Auntie Dot Peters and Donna Blackall, but was first taught fiber art by her non-Indigenous mother, who introduced her to weaving macrame. became.
“I think she wanted me to learn because she knew how important it would be to me in the future when I wanted to do more cultural travel,” Leatham said. says. “It’s part of my connection to my culture, my ancestry, all the natural traditional materials of the countryside – gifts that I’ve been given and that I make with respect and honor.”
Basket making is not a single tradition with a clear origin story, but rather multiple global practices with diverse and overlapping traditions. Basketry made from biodegradable materials tends to be more perishable than other crafts, but a 3,000-year-old item has been discovered preserved in the sands of Egypt and will be unveiled in 2021. Archaeologists have discovered a complete basket in Egypt that is estimated to be more than 10,000 years old. A cave in the Judean desert.
As Leatham says, “It’s a worldly thing.”
British and Irish basket makers used willow, hazel, and heather. The Cherokee people used river sugar cane and vines. Techniques include coiling, sewing, braiding, and twisting, and there are structural similarities between the different traditions. Basketry was intrinsically linked to landscape management and (often female) cultural or spiritual traditions.
Basket makers these days often use fibers found in craft shops rather than those plucked from riverbanks with their own hands, but as Australian craftsmen they engage with and incorporate indigenous traditions. It’s important to respect. Leatham says.
“You really have to sit down with elders and people like me and learn the stories and connect that way. It’s beautiful to see people put their own personal journeys into their creations,” Leatham says.
When Leatham teaches non-Indigenous people, she often brings up native plants to emphasize the relationship between craft and the natural world.
“Nature drops things and gives us biodegradable gifts,” she says. “I want to make baskets and clothes out of natural materials, fibers. [scrap] Fabric is better than going out and buying something because there’s too much landfill. ”
Sustainability means a lot to Leatham, as does the fact that most basketry is practical. “My ancestors made things for everyday use, so I want to make things for everyday use,” she says.
The most meaningful work to her is the Healing Mat. It is made by weaving native grasses such as kangaroo grass, bulbul grass, and seaweed using “all the techniques inherited from ancient people.” It is woven with 60,000 kangaroo stripes and bordered with feathers taken from an emu nesting site near Leatham’s home.
“We travel everywhere together,” Leatham says. “It’s pretty special. I put it on the ground. I sit on it. I do healing work on it. Little kids come and sit on it. It’s just for everyday use. It’s for you. It’s not behind glass like the others. It’s my signature.”
