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Art Objects and Replicas of the Giertz Education Center @ Krannert Art Museum

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Hösig di basket, Panama

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Title	Hösig di basket, Panama
Description	Palm fiber basket; 27 cm. in diameter. The Wounaan and Emberá are indigenous peoples of the Darién Rainforest of eastern Panama who refer to their fine traditional coil-construction palm-fiber baskets as hösig di. Any basket might take months to make, using bundled fibers from the naguala palm, which forms the coil. Fine, thread-like strands of sun-bleached "chunga" fibers from the black palm are stitched around this coil with a needle. The finest examples of weaving are of such tight construction that they hold water. Early baskets were decorated very little, if at all, and were likely stitched using bone needles. After 1982, the Wounaan began to impose more elaborate designs onto their baskets, one stitch at a time. Pictorial designs incorporate rainforest flora and fauna in endless variety. Many of the geometric patterns are derived from pre-Columbian pottery, or symbolic and powerful motifs from ritual and shamanic objects. Historically the spiny-trunked chunga palm tree was felled to harvest the young, tender leaves from the top of the extremely tall trees. Its trunk was often left to become more organic material on the forest floor. The Wounaan have recently adopted sustainable harvesting practices--such as the use of tall ladders to reach the leaves and replanting. The fibers of the leaves are laboriously stripped and the thread-like, thin strands are boiled with leaves, flowers, fruits, roots and bark to achieve an array of natural colors.
Subject	Waunana baskets--Panama; Embera baskets--Panama ; Basket making--Panama
Date	[19--]
Format	JPEG
Rights	Image © Giertz Krannert Art Museum Giertz Education Center.