M HKA Ensembles

Textile, 220 × 270 cm.

Collection: Stad Antwerpen, in langdurige bruikleen in M HKA (Inv. no. SCA0054).

The textile work We Weave depicts a group of light and dark female figures twirling and dancing in a forest, weaving a web between them. Text: 'We weave our web & hope to catch u'. Mix of hand-tufted textiles. This was a seminal work in To Hunt a Hunter, We Gather, the artist's first solo show at Geukens & De Vil, from 18 May until 24 June 2023. 

The artist uses a spider's web motif as a metaphor to visualise the concept of the 'carrier bag'. The spider has its roots in a female history, embodying creation as a deity in many Native American mythologies. Grandmother Spider (or Earth Mother, Earth Goddess...) is the mother of humanity, protecting, nurturing and guiding us on our paths. Druant was inspired by Ursula Le Guin's essay 'The Carrier Bag of Fiction', in which she introduces anthropologist Elizabeth Fisher's insight that man's first cultural device was probably a recipient, not a spear for hunting. Gathering nuts and berries would have been more important than hunting animals. So why do early cave paintings usually depict hunting figures? This illustrates how powerful storytelling is. According to Le Guin, the stories in our carrier bags are the exact opposite of the violent, chronological narratives we call history: a jumbled mess focusing on people rather than one hero. 

Sam Druant is represented by gallery Geukens & De Vil.