This Focus exhibition explores how basketry in the Grasslands region of Cameroon intersects with wider visual culture. It considers this topic through two main directions: one, the connections between the form of baskets and that of artworks made with other materials, and second, the widespread use of basketry in a variety of settings and cultural practices. Interwoven presents a selection of twentieth-century objects used in ceremonial and domestic settings, including dance rattles, baskets for honey, woven bags, palm wine pitchers, and storage baskets.
Artworks displayed in this exhibition are from the collection of William M. Itter, Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, who taught in the IU School of Fine Arts for more than three decades. This Focus exhibition grew out of the recently published book Form and Surface, which explores Itter’s collection of African ceramics and includes a discussion of the intersection of ceramics and basketry.
