MY WEAVING JOURNEY
My weaving practice is one of commitment to integrity, presence & connection. Sometimes I weave vessels that hold a function, that are practical.. but mostly I listen and translate stories into their woven form. I weave to show Spirit I am listening.
My responsibility within this practice lies in gathering & foraging for plant fibres with reverence so that the stories and songs of the Land, which we carry within our own blood, can be felt through the woven vessel we hold in our hands.
- Jasmine Nunns
"I weave to show Spirit I am listening."
One of my favourite stories to hear growing up was how my mum spent 9 months working on a giant cross stitch wall hanging while she was pregnant with me. The wall hanging was a 4x6ft poem about the Jasmine flower.
I grew up in a home surrounded by paintings, ceramics and handmade crafts that normalized the time and joy spent on such gifts.
I thank my mum for her hands.
I grew up crafting for the pure pleasure of it. Sometimes, it was practical and functional, like making a rope ladder to climb a tree, or fashioning a makeshift stretcher for a dead lizard I had found.
It wasn't until meeting my teacher Kate Rydge of Nature Philosphy in 2018, that I began the art of weaving more consciously.Through Kate's teachings, which have been greatly influenced by her time and connection to Yolngu women in Mäpuru, I have had the honour of sitting and learning from these Aboriginal master weavers from Arnhem Land, in particular, Kate's adopted Mum, Auntie Roslyn.
To be in presence and ceremony with these women on the bare earth and soil, so closely connected with the plants of that country, to hear the stories of the weavers brought me into a felt sense of Home I could never have imagined. Since these experiences, it has become even more clear that weaving the Land in time and place is always a return, a homecoming to what is here and now, with the plants being a reflection of that.
In the deepening of my relationship to weaving, and honouring of the women I have had the honour of learning from, it has also guided me to traveling to the jungles of Panama for an opportunity to live and weave with the indigenous Emberá women. Learning their traditional style of weaving made it apparent to me that there is a universal thread connecting each basket and weach woman woven across oceans, continents, time and cultures.
I am fascinated to see how this thread connects and expresses itself through the native weaving techniques I am now exploring in the British Isles.
I am soothed by the fact that in every corner of the world, women would gather around a Fire to weave baskets. Every time I do the same, I feel connected to the past, the present, and the emerging future.
I have had experiences at train stations where another unknown fellow weaver has called out to me from across the platform, because she spotted the fibres sticking out from my bag that I was carrying. There is a universal, shared language a weaver unconsciously picks up, its a language that cuts to the essence of our heart, and often with very few words.
Over time, I have come to trust in intuitive weaving invitations for specific people and places. These "Soul Baskets" have become mirrored reflections of individuals in their particular place and time of life, a glimpse into their soul through the basket and how it is woven.
My weaving continues to explore our relationship with the Land, and how baskets can reflect, support and deepen relationships between the human and more than human world. And maybe, through this weaving, of plants and of stories, we thread ourselves back into web and the magic of what holds us all.
