372-22 – Weaving Culture, Weaving History – Katrina McKinnon

Artist: Katrina McKinnon
Weaving Culture, Weaving History – 2022
Acrylic on Canvas – 61 x 61 cm

‘Weaving Histories’ talks about the connections that are reinforced by the ancient process of weaving baskets directly from materials found ‘in country’.

Yanyuwa, Garrwa and Gudanji women have woven baskets from plants found in the Gulf Country for generations. It connects them to the land through the gathering of Pandanus for weaving, it keeps stories and culture strong through the passing on of this knowledge from generation to generation; and it connects them to the cycles of nature through the necessity of reading the signs and seasons to ensure strong, flexible weaving material.

Weaving is a big process from the gathering of Pandanus at exactly the right time of year, and the collection of bush flowers and plants for dying, through to the very physical process of weaving.

Many people just see a useful basket – and this is of course true, but to the women who follow the age-old processes it is so much more as well….it is strongly  connected to reading the cycles of nature, it is meditative and rhythmic and it allows for all of these lessons to passed on in a way that is still as relevant today as it was many generations ago.