The daughter of a basket collector, I have been weaving from invasive species for over 10 years. This work began as experiments with small forms, learning as our ancestors did, the characteristics and possibility of locally abundant materials, while common processes emerged all over the world - similarities that reflect the uniquely human ways we can use our bodies, and organize information in our minds - coiling, plaiting, twining. I weave with materials that are abundant locally and created from the manmade forces that changed our ecosystems. How can we reframe the perception of human impact as a sustainable opportunity and compost our mistakes into forms that serve us, on practical, and spatial levels - while creating deeper spiritual connection to other lives around us.
Building with natural materials reframes our relationship to the production and consumption of goods, and the responsibility we have to our environment by experiencing a material’s transformational qualities and our own agency in that process. When done in community, that private experience of reorganizing natural materials is compounded with the communal link formed during handwork. Here a social space emerges where dissimilar people can connect around a common practice to share stories and information about their connection to the material, the environment, and their stakes in and responses to a changing climate. How can weaving be a tool both materially and spiritually to encourage communiy transformation?
