The basketmaker who weaves costumes and games
Cardiff-based Lewis Prosser uses endangered Welsh and West Country basketry techniques to build wearable sculptures for performances.
Colossal profiled Cardiff-based artist Lewis Prosser on 14 July 2026. Describing himself as an absurdist basketmaker, he works between sculpture, performance and folk tradition, building wearable basket costumes with weaving techniques from Wales and the West Country that are at risk of disappearing. He treats basketry as an essential human skill that is close to being forgotten.
Most of the objects exist for an event. Making Merrie, a performance drawing on British and Irish mummers' plays, is now held in the Folk Preservation Society collection in Devon. A European collaboration, The Baskets Between Carnival and Lent, recreates the 24 woven objects visible in Pieter Bruegel's 1559 painting and will debut at Oriel Myrddin Gallery in spring 2027. Hornball, or cuerno pelota, turns basketry into a sport performance premiering at the Burgos Biennial in 2026. The strategy is worth noting: rather than preserving a technique behind glass, Prosser invents situations that still require it.
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- Colossal · 14 July 2026
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Illustrative image · Photo: Rachel Claire / Pexels — free licence
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