Seated among her basket work, Matilda Thomas carried generations of knowledge through her hands, weaving memory, identity, and connection to the land into each piece she created.
Basket weaving represents a deep and living connection to the land, the ancestors, and the passing of knowledge through generations. Using the bark and roots of red and yellow cedar trees, weavers carefully gathered, soaked, split, and prepared each material by hand before beginning their work.
Through techniques such as coiling, twining, plaiting, and over-under weaving, baskets were created not only for practical use, but also as expressions of identity, memory, and cultural continuity. Patterns woven into the baskets often carried stories, family histories, ancestral teachings, and deep connections to the land. Learned through observation, practice, and time spent alongside Elders and family, basket weaving became more than practical work — it became a living way of carrying identity, memory, and culture from one generation to the next.
Baskets were used throughout daily life for gathering berries, digging clams, storing water, and cooking with heated rocks. They were also highly valued gifts in potlatch ceremonies, where the sharing of such work reflected honour, generosity, and the deep interconnectedness of community life.
Like many traditional practices, basket weaving required patience, knowledge, and deep respect for the natural world. Through the hands of weavers such as Matilda Thomas, generations of cultural knowledge continues to live on — not only in the baskets themselves, but in the relationships, teachings, and traditions woven into them.