Edilsa Hitucama Negria

Panama

Year(s) attended: 2010

Wounaan National Congress

Basket Weaving

In the Darien Rainforest of Panama, the Wounaan people use vegetable and organic materials to create beautiful woven baskets from the leaves of the black palm tree.

The leaves are delicately peeled apart, bleached by the sun, then dyed with roots, berries, leaves, bark, herbs or river mud to achieve a variety of colors. These strands are then woven together by hand to make baskets of a variety of sizes, each of which is unique.

From her older sister, Edilsa Hitucama Negria learned both the technique of Hosig Di basketry and its importance as an element of cultural identity. She continues to teach it to her daughter, family members and other women in the Wounaan community.

Together, these women are a part of a phenomenon by which women have become the primary income earners in many families.