‘holding’ was a project involving a series of workshops intending to evoke and capture discussion around the heritage tradition of hand net making in Grand Cayman.  Involving participatory processes, the project centred on accrual; both of a heritage skill and of the stories generated through collective practice.

The net was constructed by participants using found ropes, salvaged from beaches in Grand Cayman. The twenty participants ranged in age from 7-95. They were from a range of demographics; different cultural backgrounds, places of birth (Cayman, other Caribbean countries and other continents) and forms of employment.

The stories shared by participants during the making process were transcribed as hand embroidered fragments and woven into the formed net.

Part of the project involved a book - ‘hold’.  Written in pencil, it creates an intentionally ephemeral record of the small stories. The words will blur and fade over time; a metaphor for the impermanence of cultural memory and identity.