Weaving for the World

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Matthew Sillence is dazzled and deceived at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich

Basketry, the ancient practice of coiling, binding and plaiting natural or man-made materials, has been largely neglected in comparison with other crafts, and has had little profile in the art world before now, as curator Professor Sandy Heslop observes. ‘Basketry: Making Human Nature’, held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA) in Norwich from 8 February to 22 May 2011, examines the global distribution and cultural significance of basketry. 

The exhibition comprises themed displays arranged across the three levels of the building. Visitors are shown the connections between the act of weaving, the underlying mathematics and the resulting pattern, which has long been used for decorative effect and to generate images and shapes in two or three dimensions. A Kuba basket with a lid from the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, shows how different weaves almost miraculously change the shape of an object from circular to cuboid. The influence of this patterning can also be seen in other objects, such as pottery or glass.

One of the most important functions of basketry has been to regulate and exploit plants and animals on land and in water. For instance, a fish trap from Northern Thailand (detail illustrated) has an intricate and flexible passage that allows a fish to enter, but prevents its escape. This idea of flexibility is explored in Mathias Bengtsson’s Spun Chaise (illustrated), which is made from carbon-fibre rather than natural materials. Like wicker furniture, which is lightweight and strong enough to support a person, Bengtsson has used artificial materials to explore basketry’s variety of forms. Situated close by, Laura Ellen Bacon’s willow work, Growth Tip, reinforces this astounding versatility and virtuosity. Perched over one of the Upper Gallery display walls, the work resembles a nest or plant spilling into the gallery space.

Downstairs, along the Link Corridor on the second level of the SCVA, a combination of objects and documentaries show the intimate connection that basketmakers have with their materials. Many basketry objects have traditionally been made from wild or cultivated plants, and are in turn used to collect fruit or vegetable crops from other plants. Baskets were and still can be a renewable and sustainable resource. In a world dominated by pre-formed plastics and metal, which are readily disposed of and are increasingly problematic for the world’s ecosystems, the curators have paid attention to the reuse of artificial materials. Some of the most compelling objects are small, colourful bowls from South Africa made from telephone wires and a basket created from discarded fabrics and plastics from Ghana.

Clearly, it is not just the materials that contribute to an object’s strength, but also the way in which they are put together. A ‘laboratory of structure’occupies one of the bays in the Link Corridor, allowing visitors to examine the microscopic arrangement of fibres in different substances. The adjacent displays of nests created by animals remind the visitor that a single branch or stem can be brittle, but several interwoven can be very durable.

The Lower Gallery explores two final themes: protection and ritual. The basketry armour from Polynesia, for example, shields its wearer whilst providing a framework for display. The eye-catching crested helmet, on loan from the British Museum, would probably have been even more spectacular when it was once adorned with colourful feathers designed to signal the status of its wearer. As well as drawing attention to the human body, basketry has also been employed to conceal it and give form to other beings and beliefs. The massive straw Atujuwa mask, constructed by the Wauja Indians of the Xingu River, Amazonia, has a complex symbolism indicated by its size, shape and colourful surface.  Although part of the performance costumes of the villagers, the masks are thought to be worn by certain animal spirits, or Apapaatai, whose power can be both beneficial and destructive to the community.

The full-colour, illustrated catalogue that accompanies the exhibition is aimed at readers with little prior knowledge of the subject, and consists of eight essays on aspects of basketry and different cultural products and contexts around the world, followed by introductions to the commissioned artists, and a complete list of the works on display. Sandy Heslop contextualises the show, examining the ways in which basketry has been part of our everyday lives and how the making of useful things has been so important for the survival of human beings in many different environments and our understanding of the world around us.

Victoria Mitchell and Joanne Clarke consider the materials and techniques involved in basketry and objects that imitate them through two works in the Upper Gallery. Mario Merz’s willow Cono can be understood as a reminder of traditional manual skills and familiarity with natural materials that the modern world threatens to eradicate. One of the smallest and most captivating pieces on display shows how influential basketry could be for another medium. A mould-pressed glass bowl from the first century BC was made from clear glass rods spun with white glass to emulate the coiling and stitching of much older basket designs.

Aristoteles Barcelos-Neto, Steven Hooper and John Mack all explore the ritualistic uses of basketry through the powerful masks of the Xingu of Amazonia, the elaborate body armour of chiefs of the Pacific islands, and the shields of the Azande and Mangbetu peoples of Central Africa. Their weapons and costumes not only offered protection for the individual, but marked difference, separation, containment, and established social hierarchies.

Joshua Bell and Mary Butcher both focus on changes that happen to cultures in which basketry has occupied an important role. In the Purari Delta in Papua New Guinea, akeke baskets have been used for production and storage of food and serve as fish traps and dip nets, traditionally used by women.  The bilum, a bag for carrying various objects made from natural or man-made materials, is gradually replacing the basketry of the region, however, and with it men are replacing women in fishing activities. East Anglia, too, produced large quantities of baskets for its fishing communities, such as the herring swills that once dominated the quays of the east coast. With the industry’s decline, basketmaking has all but disappeared, but small-scale local producers are finding new markets for their work, particularly in the decorative arts.

The final section of the catalogue focuses on four artists whose works were specially commissioned for the exhibition. Like Laura Ellen Bacon, mentioned above, Mary Butcher, Ueno Masao and Peter Dibble have responded in innovative ways to the architecture of the SCVA. Butcher’s Wall Drawing incorporates willow, ash, New Zealand flax, paper and copper to give the impression of sketching across the wall surface of the Curved Corridor, with each length appearing more like a brush or pen stroke than a supporting framework most often associated with basketry. In The Eye is a Rose Window, Masao constructed a circular bamboo structure across the glass facade at one end of the building. Designed to imitate the human eye, it also resembles an immense spider’s web, recalling once again the traps that animals and human beings weave. Peter Dibble’s four wickerwork panels, suspended in the Upper Gallery, simultaneously enable the visitor to explore the textures of willow basketry and to appreciate the structure of the SCVA’s gantry ceiling and wall panelling, a point made by Sandy Heslop on the exhibition’s opening night. Indeed, the more the visitor examines the objects on display, the more basket-like the building becomes.

‘Basketry: Making Human Nature’is set to become a memorable and influential exhibition, and not simply because of its global scope, which is already the hallmark of the SCVA’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. This presentation of basketry as a means of providing and storing food, constructing social relations and exploring the world around us brings a shared human nature into focus. Basketry objects are not static receptacles; rather they are truly dynamic, both in their construction and as finished products. They can dazzle, deceive, deter and defend. Whether termed craft or art, they have been with us for tens of thousands of years, and as long as people have materials to hand, will be produced for many more.

Basketry: Making human nature  by Sandy Heslop et al.is published by East Publishing 2011. 68 pp. 72 colour illus. ISBN 978-0-946009602