Simon Caura

Venezuela

Year(s) attended: 2009 (with Edith Martinez Nuñez Maigualida), 2010

Kanwasumi Basket Cooperative

Supported by Earth Bound, Inc.

Baskets

Simon Caura, along with the other weavers of the Kanwasumi Basket Cooperative, individually hand weave wuwa baskets, women’s burden baskets, and jojos, round storage baskets. Traditional men’s baskets called guapas are highly decorated winnowing baskets that are presented to a new bride. No tools are used except a machete to help cut the “minñato” vine from which the baskets are made.

The Ye’kwana, indigenous people who live in the remote Upper Caura watershed, use these baskets primarily in the gathering and preparation of yucca used in making cassava bread, the mainstay of their diet.