Basket Maker features the centuries-old Mi’kmaq tradition of basket weaving, which holds contemporary importance as an art form, a way to build community, and as a means to strengthen generational connectedness.

Martin has created a film on Mi’kmaw basketmakers of the Maritimes, the eastern coastal Indigenous people of Canada. Like weaving a basket, Martin has woven past and present film images from her personal film footage as well as archival footage to honour the contribution women basketmakers made to the economy and traditional art form.

“Basketmakers and basketmaking kept us alive, kept our traditions alive, and woven into those works of art, are tears, fears, anguish and our way of life…vessels that held our memories of our traditions. “ Catherine Martin