Mapuche

As a student in the 1970s 'fibre revolution' in Boston, Whyte Schulze discovered basketry as the preferred medium for her sculptures. Widely travelled, her experiences of other cultures have become an important inspiration. She is fascinated by cave painting and rock carving, which she uses to connect the past and present.

Elizabeth Whyte Schulze © John Polak, 2018

The handprints in the painting refer to rock art around the world and were inspired by a famous site in Patagonia, called the Cave of Hands. With the handprints, Whyte Schulze reminds us that the past still matters.

The central figure of a woman reaches out to the hands in front of her, a powerful symbol of the relevance of the past in our lives.

Artist’s interpretation:

‘She is enveloped in a dotted web symbolic of her floating spirit. This symbol I developed after visiting Turkey in late 2014 from the many decorative lines used in the elaborate tiled walls.’

The row of abstract faces are inspired by American Northwest Coast peoples who carved similar designs on boulders.

The stone on the bottom left is marked with signs. Throughout her career, Whyte Schulze has used stones in her artwork and they make a physical reference to ancient caves and rock carvings in the American Northwest Coast.

Whyte Schulze has combined coiled basketry, a technique which is used widely throughout the world, with woven patterns inspired by Mapuche textiles.

This coiled basket is an unusual combination of oval and square shapes, the result of this technical challenge is visible on the reverse of her Mapuche sculpture.