Basketry Brings Worlds Together

Aunty Bilawarra Lee  holding a smoking Ceremony at the opening of our collaborative Public Work commissioned by the City of Darwin

My interest and passion for basketry was sparked when I first moved to the Northern Territory more than 20 years ago. A trip to the Nauiyu Nambiyu (Daly River) community, 250km South of Darwin for the Merrepen Arts Cultural Festival changed my life. I was shown by the local traditional basket-makers how to make fibres from pandanas leaves and dye them with native plants to make them into baskets. After this initial introduction to traditional fibre arts practice, I have continued to explore and experiment to create baskets and woven sculpture in a contemporary fibre art context for over twenty years. My personal journey as a contemporary fibre artist has been one of exploration and discovery with hands on experience and creative research. I explore ways in which to translate basketry techniques along with a variety of mediums to develop my personal relationship with the natural environment and maintain a respectful relationship with the traditional Owners of this Country from the many diverse language groups from across the vast continet. They taught me how to strip pandanus and weave with the string (plant fibres). At times, I found this extremely challenging, as I had to discard familiar learning paradigms. I was accustomed to learning with a lot of talking, metaphors and explaining. Instead I had to watch and learn, which was frustrating, and overwhelming, as I had so many questions and insecurities running through my head. This was the first time I was exposed to what I now understand as the ‘both ways’ methodology, which recognises and embraces western and traditional Indigenous learning methods (Ober and Bat, 2007).This experience gave me a sense of connection with my teachers, which I had never experienced before, as well as an appreciation and connection to the unfamiliar Northern Territory landscape, which I increasingly felt comfortable and familiar within because of this experience. I adopt both-ways methodologies that recognise the importance of embracing western technologies and teaching methods combined with traditional knowledge, continuing a cross-cultural conversation that recognises how existing methods and skills can be adapted and shared.

Below is a journal entry that described my personal experiences of learning about traditional basketry processes:

When I am walking in the bush, collecting pandanas and roots with the weavers I feel safe, I feel home. All senses are engaged and there is a familiarity that could be compared to walking into grandma’s kitchen. First there is the smell, the crushed leaves underfoot remind me of that first day I walked into the Northern Territory bush more than 20 years ago. Even on that first day, it felt like coming home. It smells like medicine and makes me feel healthy. And then there are the colours, the green of the old pandanas leaves and the yellow of the new, telling us they are ready to be harvested. The birds aren't quiet about the occasion, they are telling their friends and family kilometres away that there is a stupid Balanda floundering through their home, but she must be okay, because her Amala [mother) is with her, making sure she does it right. Everyone is excited, yelling to one another in language, like cockatoos, reminding the trees that they are loved and we need them and they need us. The pandanas is prickly, and my hands will never be the same again. However, that doesn’t matter, I am at my happiest here and it almost feels good to be permanently scarred from years of pandanas prickles. Like a rite of passage and reminder of the amazing places that weaving has taken me, to beautiful lands and with generous and incredible people . In his book, The Wanderer, Kahil Gibran poetically describes how stones are smoothed and changed by countless pilgrims moving across their surface. The pilgrims are changed and so are the rocks. This is how I feel. Physically challenged and changed by this creative journey I have been honoured to be welcomed into.

Experimenting with different techniques and materials became my life. All I wanted to do was to sit next to a nice creek and practice the repetitive weaves to make different forms. After this initial introduction to traditional fibre arts practice, I have continued to experiment with making woven sculpture in a contemporary fibre art context, continuously exploring ways in which to translate many different basketry and plant dying processes along with a variety of mediums, including man-made and up-cycled materials. I frequently participate in textile skill development workshops such as those provided by the Australian Forum of Textiles Association (TAFTA), which provided the opportunity to develop my interest in basketry and plant dying and learn from highly skilled and respected textile artists from across Australia and the world. Doctor Pamela Crofts, a Kooma woman from the Uralarai people of South West Queensland, was another such mentor.

She said:

Always remember that what makes you all Australian is the fact that you live on this land, on our ancestral lands and with our creation stories. Lastly what makes you Australian, is in fact your interactions with us, the First Nations peoples of this land - in the past, now and in the future. It is what makes you different from your ancestors whose spirits lie in other lands. We are what help to make you Australian. It is what gives you belonging on and to this land. (Croft cited in Mellor and Haebich, 2002:225).