Basket of Braids by Natalia Litvinova, translated by Kelsi Vanada Ellen Hinsey always guided by faith and

always guided by faith and ancestry

and the vanished settlements beneath Heathrow Airport

Aaron Williamson

’ —Zoë Skoulding

Work here touches on the climate crisis

Basket of Braids by Natalia Litvinova, translated by Kelsi Vanada Ellen Hinsey always guided by faith andThe title of Basket of Braids forms a surprising image. Why would anyone store braided hair in a basket? The women in my family keep the hair they cut off in a basket of braids. Its an ancient tradition, no one can remember who started it. For Belarusian poet Natalia Litvinova, who immigrated with her family to Buenos Aires at the age of ten, this basket of braids symbolises the strength of the bonds between the rural Slavic women who came before her