Pathfinder Illustration n.d.

This print, made by Jacobus Smies in the late 18th or early 19th century, is a window into the material culture of its time. It's an etching, a printmaking process that involves using acid to cut lines into a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. What I find interesting is the basket, a form made by human hands. A person, probably a woman, would have woven the strips to make it strong enough to contain a child. Baskets speak of sustainability, skill, and the essential role of craft in everyday life. The textiles, too – consider the labor required to produce the rolled blankets on the traveler’s back. We are reminded of the embodied energy in these ordinary materials. Looking closely at the texture of the etching, you see how the labor of the printmaker echoes the labor of the basket weaver, and the labor of the spinner, weaver and tailor who made those blankets and clothes. It reminds us that images, like objects, have a deep connection to the economic conditions of their making.