As a non-Indigenous person, I adopt a more-than-human perspective in my approach to basket weaving to deepen my connection with Country. The project commences in my living room, where I engage in weaving, drawing inspiration from my experiences of walking through a local casuarina (Swamp oak, She-oak) forest. I redefine the basket from a noun to a verb, suspending the object and focusing on a collaboration that extends beyond human entities to include materials, spirits, narratives, and deep time.

Drawing on the methodology of ‘research as relation’ and ‘thesis as kin’ proposed by Indigenous scholar Lauren Tynan (2021), I intertwine stories and insights from Country into my practice, crafting a series of baskets with Sheoak trees, which are neither she or oak. This nuanced approach to weaving with Country comes from a desire to explore how an ethic of care can be integrated into my creative practice. The series comprises five baskets: Interior baskets #1 & #2, crafted within the domestic space, followed by, Sheoak, Heoak, and Theyoak, which are created on and with the trees in the forest.