Kate Sellar
Woven Fortification: Tracing the Supplejack, 2023
Materials: Ice dyed silk, acrylic felt, 3D printed motifs & sewing threads Technique: Free machining, appliqué & 3D printing 25.5H x 22W x 1D inches
Kate Sellar
Woven Fortification: Tracing the Supplejack, 2023
Materials: Ice dyed silk, acrylic felt, 3D printed motifs & sewing threads Technique: Free machining, appliqué & 3D printing 25.5H x 22W x 1D inches
Kate Sellar
Woven Fortification: Tracing the Supplejack, 2023
Materials: Ice dyed silk, acrylic felt, 3D printed motifs & sewing threads Technique: Free machining, appliqué & 3D printing 25.5H x 22W x 1D inches
The thick, blackened rambling vines of the Supplejack are a distinctive feature of lowland areas around the New Zealand coastline. Māori refer to these plants as ‘pirita’ or ‘kareao’, (translated as twisted rope). Flexible kareao stems were used extensively by both Māori and early European settlers (Pākehā) and was useful in binding together fences, houses (whare), canoes, defensive palisades and platforms. For early Māori, the sturdy vines made excellent pots, traps and nets for catching crayfish, eels and fish. The plant forms a seemingly impenetrable fortress-like mass in dense bush, yet provided value and utility; tracing an entwined cultural narrative.
