Anina Major Turns Bahamian Weaving Into Ceramic Sculpture
Palm-leaf weaving has been part of Bahamian life for generations. Artist Anina Major is taking that tradition somewhere unexpected, recreating the intricate patterns of woven fiber in clay. What would normally bend, fray and eventually disappear becomes something permanent once fired.
Her new exhibition, The Sacred Mangrove, at Pérez Art Museum Miami explores the relationship between Caribbean craft, cultural identity and the materials that carry those histories. Major hand-weaves clay into forms that resemble traditional straw work, turning an everyday island practice into large-scale sculpture. The process is painstaking, and the results have an unusual tension between the appearance of something soft and the reality of fired ceramic.
The installation includes towering clay structures, bottle trees and a pathway of crushed conch shells. There's also Water Tower, a 2024 work incorporating glazed stoneware, melted sea glass and sand. These materials aren't incidental. They connect the work directly to the landscape and cultural history of the Bahamas, far removed from the familiar imagery of beaches and resorts.
Opening October 8, 2026, and running through August 1, 2027, the exhibition marks Major's first solo presentation at a major international museum.
Check out the full details at Pérez Art Museum Miami.
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