Editorial by Zoe Black, Jasmine Te Hira and Carola Grahn for the third issue of The Vessel

An essay by South Saami and Scottish Gaelic teacher, translator and poet Johan Sandberg McGuinne on Saami kinship terms and naming practices

In this extensive text by kairaranga (weaver) Tanya White we are introduced to the wahakura, a woven bassinet for infants made from harakeke, a native plant of Aotearoa New Zealand. The wahakura are vessels of wellbeing, providing safe sleeping spaces for small children. The article presents a case study of raranga wahakura (the practice of making a woven bassinet). It is an articulation of raranga (weaving) epistemology from a weaver’s perspective.

The Sámi gietkka, a cradle for newborn children, has an ingenious design suited for a nomadic lifestyle. In this text, duojárat and couple Fredrik Prost and Inga-Wiktoria Påve talk about two old cradles that were left in their care from each of their families, and how they made them fit for new generations with the help of each other, their ancestors, and sketches from the 1930s.

Writer and curator Ioana Gordon-Smith takes a closer look at how Jasmine Togo-Brisby’s practice explores her South-Sea Islander whakapapa, and how it can define new material customs, calling on making practices that honour her ancestry while acknowledging the histories of plantation colonisation and forced migration across the Pacific.

Whakapapa is a Māori framework that places us within the world. It encompasses all relationships we experience and guides our knowledge and connection to whānau (family), hītori (history), tikanga (customs) and philosophies. In this presentation by artist Dorothy Waetford we are introduced to the whakapapa of her practice and how it is informed by her background as a dancer, and her local surroundings and whānau (family).

Lova Isabelle Lundberg introduces us to the South Sami hair tie tradition baarkaldahke through a short film, images and text.

Whakapapa is a Māori framework that places us within the world. It encompasses all relationships we experience and guides our knowledge and connection to whānau (family), hītori (history), tikanga (customs) and philosophies. In this presentation by Raukura Turei we are introduced to the whakapapa of her practice, and how the materials she uses in her work connects her both to her tīpuna (ancestors) and the whenua (land).

Monika Svonni is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Jåhkåmåhkke. Her oeuvre consists mainly of textile collages that incorporate pewter thread embroidery and reindeer hide, but she also works with wood carvings and sculptures in a variety of materials. In this interview by the editor, artist and curator Carola Grahn we are introduced to Monika Svonni's work through many years, and her outlook on life and art.

Sarah Hudson (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Pūkeko) has been an admirer of textile artist Ron Te Kawa’s practice and champions his unique approach to sharing Indigenous narratives and stories from te ao Māori (the Māori world) through toi tuitui (art making using sewing and fabric). In this article, Sarah Hudson explores Ron’s practice through the celebration of play and aroha (love), resilience and punk energy, and loud and rebellious joy.

Whakapapa is a Māori framework that places us within the world. It encompasses all relationships we experience and guides our knowledge and connection to whānau (family), hītori (history), tikanga (customs) and philosophies. In this presentation by artist and jeweller Areta Wilkinson we are introduced to her practice and how reconnecting with her ancestral kāinga (home) has meant connections to deeper material knowledge and understanding.

In 2022, it was one hundred years ago that the Swedish State Institute for Racial Biology was established in Uppsala, Sweden. Many ethnic groups and other socially vulnerable subgroups were measured, tested, and photographed in the name of racial biology. The Sami were one of them. In this article, the duodjár and textile artist Katarina Spik Skum describes how she came to use the photographic archive of the Institute for Racial Biology as a source of inspiration for the creation of gábde from the Lule Sami area.