Meaning Containers

The Meaning Containers are artisanal bags inspired by raffia palm objects from the Democratic Republic of Congo preserved in the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm. They are mainly inspired by a beanie initiation hat and amulet bags made with raffia palm. The meaning containers bags were part of a group exhibition called “Renegotiating Material Culture” and this presentation consists of a long abstract and photo diary of my research work.

As a bag designer, I wanted to create bags using materiality and shape as communicative interfaces. Bags we use are objects that contain our most precious material things, but also have social, ecological and political significance. Objects can be containers of social and cultural meaning and can tell the relationship that exists between communities and makers with their natural environment and social context.

Renegotiating Material Culture Exhibition

The exhibition Renegotiating Material Culture is the result of a yearlong partnership between the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm and Research Lab Craft at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. One of the main objectives of the research project consisted in exploring how the museum and its collection can inspire our contemporary craft and also how craft can explore the museum as well as the common approaches to manufacturing, problem solving and material exploration that are manifest in the historic museum collections. Working with current debates concerning decolonizing museums, the research projects investigated the role of this, and other ethnographic collections in contemporary society ^[1].

Etnografiska Museet Stockholm April- August 2020. Meaning Containers: Maxi Tote bag ca 60 x 60 cm Backpack ca 40 x 55 cm

Materials and Techniques

The materials and techniques used in this project explore some elements of the Congolese material culture stored in the museum. These containers are made with materials and craft techniques that until today have resisted over time and continue being part of the Congolese material culture such as the raffia weaving and beadwork. Every bead color contains a hidden meaning as each color represents a different precious mineral extracted in the contemporary DRC. Through reading and practical research, two objects were developed - one bucket backpack and one maxi tote. This work also aims to visualize a contemporary environmental and social phenomenon in this Central African country - the mineral conflict.

Resorting to raffia palm weaving and beadwork, these bags combine traditional and nontraditional techniques with diverse materials. Polypropylene and plastic bags used to store and transport cobalt and other precious minerals in the contemporary DRC were incorporated in the production process (Figure 1).

Phase 1.

• Natural raffia palm fiber
• Fuchsia Cord
• Jute
• Brown upcycled leather
• Green plastic bag
• White Polypropylene from sand bags commonly used to store and transport cobalt, copper and other minerals in DRC

Phase 2.

• Glass beads
• Wood beads
• Asaí: Natural seeds beads from southern Colombia
• Upcycled buttons

Creative process

Learning through making

Acknowledging the geographical limitations to accomplish a field research process, three elements were key during the conceptualization and production of the bags. Firstly, the direct observation of raffia objects contained in the museum. Secondly, a desk review and analysis of socio-political processes such as the mineral conflict and the raffia palm craft practice in DRC and thirdly, the engagement with the raffia material and the hands-on weaving and beadwork techniques.

This methodology allowed me to learn from traditional craft techniques used by communities in this Central African country. The raffia weaving process served as a medium to gain knowledge about the history of raffia and its importance in the local environment. Two raffia objects in the museum such as the Beanie initiation hat and amulet bags from Congo were the most inspirational objects. The beanie initiation hat is covered and has lining of raffia fabric and it is adorned with blue, red, yellow, and white glass beads. This hat was made by the Bakuta indigenous people in Congo and was acquired by the Museum of Ethnography in 1973. Designed with a “tail” at the neck and worn by young boys during initiation rites. (Figure 2). In many African societies, such as the Lega people in Congo, hats may indicate political, social, economic or religious meanings ^[2].

In the museum collection many amulet bags ^[3] can also be found, such as the small Nkutu bags made with textile from natural fibers and used as protection containers. Such amulet bags were used to keep medicine and to carry precious content (Figure 3).

Figure 2. Beanie Initiation Hat. Ethnic group: Bakuta. Country: Congo-Brazzaville: Africa. Museum acquisition: 1973 Museum Location: Magasinet Case M04. Photography Etnografiska Museet

The actual making of the tapestries I used to create the Meaning Containers bags took approximately three months to be finished (Figure 4,5). During the weaving process, youtube videos, images of raffia weaving and the use of improvisation were very helpful to imitate the raffia palm weaving. Other materials were incorporated such as polypropylene fibers, plastic bags, jute, upcycled leather and cord. The woven tapestries used to create the bags are a combination of natural and non-natural materials available in the places where I have been living over the past year: Colombia and Sweden.

Once the fabrics were ready, the next step was sewing the bags. I decided to create two shapes- the first a maxi-bag tote, half of which was made with raffia fabric and the other half with white polypropylene from sand bags. It is rectangular in shape, with two handles and one strip and can be carried on the head, which is the way the miners carry heavy bags full of minerals (Figure 6). The second one is a bucket backpack adorned with beads and buttons. It is closed with a raffia tail. Due to the Covid- 19 lockdown of the facilities at Konstfack, this process was done at home, the sewing took approximately one week (Figure 7).

When researching about Congo and its colonial past, my focus turned to the mining industry as a new form of colonialism and its environmental and human rights impacts. The question arises about how these new phenomena may be interacting with the traditional craft practices in this region. The mining industry nowadays embodies a humanitarian and environmental problematic in Congo. An estimated 35,000 children and young men work in risky conditions to extract cobalt from the ground. Cobalt and other valuable minerals are found in the rechargeable batteries of our phones, tablets, and electric vehicles. The Congolese dig for cobalt, carry the minerals in heavy sacks and then sell it to (typically) Chinese middlemen. Some of the companies, that purchase raw materials from Congo includes Ford, General Motors, IBM, Sony, Volvo, Apple, Tesla, Samsung, BMW and Nokia among others ^[4].

Raffia palm weaving technique

Objects made of raffia express more than a materiality itself, (Figure 8). The raffia weaving as practice imply elements related to the place, social context and a human collectivity. In DRC the preparation, production, and design of Kuba raffia textiles require a collaborative work between men and women. Traditionally, men are responsible for cultivating raffia palm trees and collecting the outer layers of the fronds to produce fiber strands and mainly men were in charge of weaving the strands on a vertical heddle loom into panels of cloth. Nowadays, the raffia weaving is a craft performed by not only men but also by Kuba women weavers ^[5]. In the past, individual panels of raffia textiles were used as objects of exchange in financial, legal, and even marital transactions. Today, despite the availability of machine- made cotton cloth, raffia textiles are still regarded as the only kind of garment appropriate to adorn the body of the deceased ^[6].

Beadwork technique

The beadwork technique was incorporated into this project with the aim to include the constitutive elements of the Congolese initiation hat. In the nineteenth century, thanks to the widespread use of the glass beads, the local ways of craft making were impacted. Although the colonial intrusion was supposed to facilitate the control of the local population, the imported glass bead was used by the locals as a tool to reinforce their own identities and to respond to the power of the colonist ^[7]. Long before the colonial intrusion glass beads and European buttons remained extremely rare in Central Africa since the beadwork traditionally was executed by using organic and locally available materials such as furs, hides, feathers, grass, seeds, and shells ^[8].
The beadwork is used as an interface to communicate hidden meanings. The beads used to adorn the bags are a combination of natural beads, glass beads and upcycled plastic beads and buttons (Figure 9). The selection of these materials was an attempt to use available material that I use in my professional practice, in this case upcycled materials. The Asaí ^[9], (Figure, 10) amazonic seed beads were incorporated as an element from a specific context, in this case the country from which I come from. Each coloured bead contains a hidden meaning and represents different precious minerals extracted in contemporary DRC. The blue beads represent cobalt; yellow and orange represent gold; white symbolizes tin; brown mimics tantalum and green, red, fuchsia and purple represent tungsten.

Craft: the medium for exploring the Museum of Ethnography.

The Congolese craft objects served as mediums for exploring the Museum of Ethnography as well as portals to learning about Congolese communities, about their past and their current relation with nature and aspects of their social context. Material culture and objects, in terms of materiality and meanings, continue telling the stories of communities. They also reflect global concerns and their relation with others, themselves and nature.

Although the tapestries made from the bags might look messy, the result that really mattered was the learning that the making process left. The fact of being able to interact directly with the raffia palm and approach the processes of traditional weaving through the objects of the museum were a great means of learning new techniques and practices for my craft as an artisan. Materiality became not only an input for production but also a window for learning about other human groups and their customs. Virtual platforms such as YouTube and other tutorial portals became key research tools, especially in a context of social isolation and remote research. The metaphorical figure of the bag as container plays with the idea of containing and safeguarding not only tangible things but also intangibles - in this case, social, ecological, political or cultural messages. Bags are endowed with the utilitarian function of carrying material objects and non-material meanings. Objects are containers of meanings and can tell the relationship that exists between communities with their natural environment and social context.

Meaning Containers 2020