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Iam sitting in a church hall with 15 women and one teenage boy and we are chanting âover, under, over, under, over, underâ while facilitating good conversations between bits of Bangalow palm.
This is odd. But this is also soothing, hypnotic even. We are basket weaving. Our instructor, Sydney fibre artist Catriona Pollard, has demonstrated ârandom weavingâ using Bangalow palm inflorescence â the dried stalks and stems of the palmâs flower head. The technique is like a good conversation, she says, âtwo people take turns talking and listeningâ. Each piece must play an equal part: we take a tendril from one and weave it diagonally into the other, over, under, over, under, over, under, then we take a tendril from the other and weave it back into the first. Neither piece dominates the conversation.