The Tide is Turning: Gullah Vernacular Knowledge and the Ecologies of Lowcountry Basketmaking

Abstract

Coiled baskets are wetland landscapes as tangible objects, ecosystems made as something we can hold and carry. The ecologies of coastal Georgia and South Carolina are instantly recognizable in the fragrant materials. The base of a coiled basket looks like a ripple, its spirals of bundled sweetgrass pulsing to the outer row where a basket’s wall begins to rise. Depending on how recently the basket was made, the sweetgrass ranges from coarse and dry to smooth and slightly waxy to the touch (fig. 1).