11"H x10"W Ye'kwana (Yekuana) traditional woman's tribal basket, Venezuela

Description

This basket is made by Isiara Castro who lives in a traditional Ye'kwana village located 4 days by dugout canoe from the nearest center of transport.  She is part of a women's cooperative consisting of 80+ women. The Ye'kwana inhabit lowland tropical forests of Southern Venezuela, and basketry is an intricate part of their daily life.  Men and women weave over 30 functional and ceremonial baskets.  The hour-glass shape comes from the traditional burden basket called a
Wuwa
that is much larger and stronger and is carried on the back with a strap across the forehead, and thus follows the contour of the back.  It is made from a forest vine (
min
ñ
ato
) that is collected, split, and woven. Encouraged by missionaries over 50 years ago, Ye'kwana women began to transform their burden basket to a finer more delicate version for sale to tourists.  They added colors, symbols and figures that are part of Ye'kwana legend.  This basket is an example of how the women continue to innovate basket design.  The rich brown color is from a newly discovered dye plant.  As with other baskets, it features the symbolic monkey and examples of the many geometric designs from this culture.  The baskets have become favorites in the US home decor market. Current conditions in Venezuela threaten the survival of basket project, and the very traditional lifestyle of these indigenous people. The basket comes with documentation and additional information about the Women's basket cooperatives in Venezuela..