Basket-making is often perceived as more of a serf rather than noble craft.  Admittedly, it does lean towards the basic and functional in its forms and uses - from the humble carrying basket of hunters and gatherers, to the simple containers of our million nik-naks and dirty laundry. 

Yet, in addition, the earthy, elemental basket is also heaving with powerful symbolic weight.  It was, after all, Moses only means of protection when cast adrift on the River Nile.   And currently, the inspiration for the roof structure of the new Pompidou Centre building in Metz, France, comes from the form of Chinese woven bamboo hats, worn by rice pickers in the paddy fields, “because they have a structure, as well as insulation and waterproofing,”  recently declared the building’s designer, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. 

The exhibition ‘Contained Spaces’ is Pravina Khilnani King’s attempt to re-address basket-making’s poor relation status.  And this, the curator has chosen to do via a celebration rather than a justification.  Essentially, the exhibition showcases for the first time in the UK, developments in contemporary basket making through the work of four female makers from Botswana, India, Japan and Scotland.  The common thread – or rather palm leaf, or willow branch - shared by these women is that all use basket weaving as a powerful medium of self expression.

In the case of Manimegalai Manickam from the Chettinad area of South India, basket making is also a means of collective expression.  For Manimegalai is part of a basket making community, and the creation of the exhibition’s kottans – gift boxes and containers woven from dyed palm leaf – is the result of the shared experience of picking the palm leaf, dyeing the strands in exuberant range of natural colours, and finally weaving and stitching together.  The sheer joy of this shared community spirit is palpable in these simple, vibrant pieces.

By contrast Scottish basket maker Anna King’s approach to her craft is very much more a solitary and intimate affair.   Anna’s gem-like basket creations are not particularly functional - they are more to do with ideas and even secrets.  And in order to express these intimacies, the artist has enriched her baskets - which are constructed using the coiling technique of stitching a continuous fibre or strand together - with a cornucopia of elemental, even spiritual materials such as pine needles, moss, horsehair, gold thread, leaf skeletons, feathers, and tiny hand made paper books with thoughts and messages.  These are thoughtful, wistful almost dreamy creations.

Hisako Sekijima’s work is similarly pensive but altogether more experimental, abstract and even subversive.  The Japanese basket maker’s work defies categorisation, indeed Hisako even forbade herself the discipline of using recognised weaving techniques.  As a result the exhibition pieces are almost pure sculpture, constructed in an apparently arbitrary manner yet underlying each is a precise intention and effect.  The use of found natural materials such as bamboo, kozo, cedar, mulberry and bark also lend the ‘basket sculptures’ an additional enigmatic aura.

If the work of Anna King and Hisako Sekijima demonstrates how baskets can transcend traditional notions and functions, Botswana’s Gabatsholwe Ntwe shows how the traditions of basket weaving can be celebrated even elevated, and indeed, can ultimately offer a life changing opportunity.  Gabatsholwe’s baskets, built from the leaves of the mokola palm tree, and woven via the intricate coil method, are essentially functional vessels for storage of grain, seeds, even beer.  Yet they are also, in their pictorial representations, invaluable documents of local life and traditions.  And since Gabatsholwe’s pieces have been produced under the umbrella of Botswanacraft, the main marketing outlet for Botswnan baskets, her income has allowed for the education of her children, and enabled her to buy land and build her own house. 

Gabatsholwe’s story and indeed all the pieces on show in ‘Contained Spaces’, clearly demonstrate how a craft, often overlooked and deemed redundant, set as it is against the backdrop of material and product dumbing down and globalisation, can offer something essential.  Not just in formal terms but in the ability to touch lives, too.

‘Contained Spaces – The World at her Fingertips’ took place at the Collins Gallery during June 2004 and is due to tour to venues in Japan, Botswana and India in 2004-2005.  The catalogue of the exhibition is published by the Collins Gallery.  For more information visit www.collinsgallery.strath.ac.uk

Find out more about basketmaking in Scotland at www.scottishbasketmakerscircle.org

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